Memento Mori
by Nayru Elric
Summary: What other people don't know about Mikaela is that behind the façade of tranquility he wears on the outside, there's a weakness he never lets the others see, not even Yuichiro. Even before vampires took over the world, Mikaela didn't allow his dark past in his everyday life. When Mika comes back from Ferid's more exhausted than usual, Yuu demands to know what's going on. MikaYuu.
1. Intro

**Summary:** What other people don't know about Mikaela is that behind the façade of tranquility he wears on the outside, there's a weakness he never lets the others see, not even Yuichiro. Even before vampires took over the world, Mikaela didn't allow his dark past in his everyday life. When Mika comes back from Ferid's one night more exhausted than usual, Yuu demands to know what's going on.

* * *

 **Memento Mori  
** Definition: **an object serving as a warning or reminder of death.**

* * *

The road was a blur under Mikaela's feet as he panted heavily, using the sides of buildings as his crutch. His mind was occupied by only one thing however: _I need to walk this haziness off before I get back to the shelter._ _If Yuu or anyone else is still awake, I can't let them know..._

Not paying enough attention to the movement of his feet, Mika's toes got held up on something. His legs crumbled underneath him, launching him frontside into the cobblestone ground. Unable to reach out in time to stop his fall, Mika fell onto his face. Propping his arms on either side of him to lift himself back up, Mika pushed against the ground as hard as he could, but his arms quivered too much. Blood gushed from his nostrils, running in small tributaries in the cracks on the cobblestone ground. When he finally managed to lift himself a few inches, he crashed back to the ground again, out of strength.

He was too weak... too weak to do anything. Just like back then, when his parents came at him brandishing knives or fists raised... All he could do was lie on the ground and take it. _I can't let them know,_ he thought, trying to dowse the tears that shot into his eyes from pain. _I can't let them know what I'm doing to get that stuff for them..._

Twenty minutes later, Mikaela regathered enough strength to attempt to sit up again. This time he was successful, though it took a lot out of him, and he had to sit against the side of the building he'd fallen near for twenty minutes more, panting like the livestock he was for allowing a vampire noble to nearly drink him dry.

Mikaela smiled inwardly to himself. Even if it was only a chimerical dream for a quiescent soul like him, he would keep going. _So I can be as strong as Yuu, who's protected us and kept us in hope even after all that's happened,_ he thought, looking at the pale color of his palm. _I have to show my appreciation for that, and without any complaints._ Mika hoisted himself onto his feet with the building as his support again, wobbling back and forth for a moment before catching his balance. Then, deliberately, he stepped forward.

He would get used to the sensation of having more and more blood taken from him directly. He would not give up the euphonious sounds of everyone laughing together, talking together... For now, he would deal with the burden by himself.

* * *

 **~A few weeks later~**

* * *

Yuichiro sat up on the top of the bunkbed, hearing the susurrous sounds of someone walking up the steps before the door. Immediately on the alert, Yuu grabbed the lantern at the bunkbed's railing and lit it with the matches he had nearby, descended the ladder to meet whoever intruded upon their house. "Hey, who's there?" he called in a voice shaking with anxiety as the door creaked open. If necessary, he'd fight any vampire to keep everyone else safe, but he knew very well he wouldn't be able to hold one off for long. Yuichiro's defensiveness subsided when he saw the blond head that poked around the door instead. He let out a huge sigh of relief. "Jeez, Mika, you could have at least knocked. You almost gave me a heart attack thinking you were –"

But Mika didn't answer. He fell forward into Yuu's arms. "Hey, Mika, are you –?" Turning Mika over in his arms, Yuichiro saw how pale his friend was. For a moment he feared the worst, measuring the length of each of Mikaela's breaths. Yuu, himself, turned a sheet-colored white. "H-hey, Mika! Mika! Are you all right?!"

Slowly, the blond opened his cerulean eyes and tried to smile up at him. "Ah, Yuu... Sorry, I'm just really tired right now."

"Like hell you are!" Yuichiro burst, wanting to drop Mika from almost making him start crying from worry.

As Mika watched Yuu blink back the tears in his eyes, a feeling of guilt spread from Mika's gut. _Yuu... you weren't supposed to know... I should have waited to come back until later, when I felt better... like usual..._

"What were you doing, you idiot?!" Yuichiro demanded with feigned harshness. "Can you even stand?!"

"I'm fine now..." Mika managed to say in the same light and airy tone he usually donned, albeit now laced with fatigue. "If you could just help me over to the ladder..."

Taking notice to how Mika avoided his first question, Yuichiro helped his friend to his feet, one arm draped over his shoulder, to help Mika stumble to the ladder. When Mika made no move to let go of Yuu at the base of the ladder, Yuichiro asked, "Do you need help getting up there too?"

"Please," Mika said meekly.

Yuu scoffed in irritation as he all but dragged Mika up the ladder with one arm around his waist, setting him and the lantern against the wall next to the sleeping others.

"Thanks, Yuu," Mika whispered, smiling at Yuu as he shuffled up blankets and pillows from the sleeping group and handed them to Mika, giving him the evil eye. The guilty feeling in Mika's gut became worse by the second. "I'm sorry for making you worry..." Mikaela murmured, sobering his tone.

"I wasn't worried!" Yuichiro rebuffed. He went back down the ladder to the kitchen, retrieving a makeshift cup from the cabinet and leaving Mika in the light of the lantern with the blankets he'd gathered. Traveling under the eerie yellow light of the nighttime street lamps, Yuu headed toward the well pump at the end of the road, and filled the cup to bring back to Mika.

"Here," he said, holding out the cup of water to Mika who'd wrapped himself in the blankets and pillows that Yuu had gotten him.

"Thanks, Yu –"

"Don't drop it!" Yuichiro caught the cup just in time before all of it was spilled across the wooden top of their bunkbed, and held it for Mika to grasp in his quivering hands. "Jeez," he uttered, watching Mika try to lift the cup to his face. "Need help with this too?"

Mika didn't answer, and kept trying to hold the cup steady enough to drink, but Yuichiro took it upon himself to help his sick friend. "Idiot," he puffed. He took the cup from the slightly astonished Mika and scooted closer to him. One arm around Mika's back, Yuu helped Mika lean forward, bringing the cup to his pale, chapped lips until he drank half of the water. Yuu then eased Mika's back against the wall, situating the blankets back around his exhausted friend.

"Thank you, Yuu," Mika said again, still with that guilty, cheerful air to his voice. He barely looked Yuu in the eye as he said it.

Yuichiro didn't make it a practice to pry into anyone else's business, but he had never seen Mika like this. And this wasn't the first time Mika had come back late. Yuu needed to know what was going on. "Hey, Mika," he started, hesitant. "What have you been doing out so late recently?"

Grasping the cup in his hands, Mika knew he couldn't lie to Yuu. It would only make him more ardent to find out what was going on. After everything else Yuu had helped him with that night and on-going, Mika couldn't bear the thought of letting him know that he was allowing a vampire noble to drink blood from him directly. He'd go ballistic. So Mikaela stayed silent, not looking him in the eye. "I'm sorry, Yuu," was the only thing he said.

"Don't apologize for it!" Yuu reprimanded. The tone of his voice startled Mika so he looked at Yuu. He was angry, but more than anything else, he was pleading, begging Mika to let him know what was going through his head. "Tell me why you've been so sneaky lately! It isn't like you!"

"I-I can't do that," Mika said, looking away from him again.

"I thought you said we were a family now... How could you say you can't tell me what's going on after everything else we've been through together?"

Once again, Mikaela was caught off-guard by the tone of Yuichiro's voice. Looking at him again, tears had resurfaced in Yuu's eyes, making them dark, yet clinquant emeralds in the light of the lantern. His entire face was in conflict, trying not to show any signs of emotion, yet crumbled from the agony he felt at Mika not letting him to know.

Staring at Yuu now, Mika stayed silent, until tears of his own stabbed his eyes and ran down his face. Yuu watched his friend as he cried, bemused by the reaction. Only a few of Yuu's own tears slipped down his face while Mika cried profusely, trying to stifle the sobs that jerked his throat and body. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean for you... to see me like this... I'm sorry..."

Yuu thought of telling Mika that he wasn't angry, that everything was fine... Instead, he joined Mika under the tent of blankets. Mika, completely taken aback, lifted his wetted face from his hands. "You're cold as hell," Yuu commented quietly, the blood rushing to his cheeks and ears in a light blush. "Besides, you took all of my blankets and pillows so I have nowhere else to sleep."

Although Mika was surprised by Yuu's uncharacteristic intimacy, he smiled. Even if this time together where Ferid Bathory doted upon his family was ephemeral, he would make the most of it. Shimmying farther down into the blankets, Mika answered, "Yuu, as I recall, you're the one who gave me all your blankets and pillows."

"Zip it," Yuu snapped back, turning away from Mika and trying to take most of the covers with him. Mika's smile was interrupted by Yuu saying, "I wish you trusted me enough to tell me what's going on, though..."

"It's nothing..." Mikaela murmured, trailing off.

"Don't lie to me!" Yuu burst loudly, sitting up on the bunkbed again.

"Shh, you'll wake up everyone else," Mika whispered, glaring at Yuu with a finger to his lips.

Yuu growled at him angrily before glancing at the rising and falling bundles of blankets of the others, then he settled back down under the covers. It wasn't until nearly ten minutes of silence later that Mikaela spoke. "...I've been thinking about them a lot. My parents, I mean."

At this, Yuichiro opened his eyes and turned back around toward Mikaela. He never talked about his family or their problems. The only time Mika had mentioned it was when they first met, and Yuu had had the audacity to claim he was the only kid at the Hyakuya Orphanage to have any kind of baggage from his past.

"I think about how they used to say they loved me," Mika continued, "but the next thing I knew, they'd come at me with some kind of weapon, telling me to get over whatever I was crying about. I never understood why they did that. But I didn't question them, because they were my parents, and if they said they loved me, then I should love them back..."

Yuu thought on Mika's words; his tears had ceased. He spoke as if the past he told Yuichiro of had no connection to him at all. Yuu couldn't understand why.

"I thought, 'If they love me, it doesn't matter if they hurt me, right? I can bear this. I need to stop being a baby like they always tell me. I need to grow up like they always tell me,'" Mika said. He paused again, eyes refocusing on the ceiling. "I didn't know, at the time, that what they were doing to me wasn't out of love. Because I didn't know what 'love' was supposed to look and act like. Even after I was brought to the Hyakuya Orphanage and met Akane and the others, I still didn't know. Not until..."

"Not until...?" Yuu coaxed.

Mika shook his head, humming a short "mm-mm." He turned toward Yuu so that they were face to face. "I wish this moment was sempiternal, Yuu."

Flustered by the dreamy look in his friend's eyes, Yuichiro stammered, "Wh-what are you, a raconteur now?!"

"A raconteur tells stories that are hard to believe or unreliable," said Mika with a small frown. "I'm telling the truth."

"Whatever," said Yuu, trying to turn away from Mika. But Mika latched onto Yuu's hands with his own. Eyes hidden under his blond bangs, the air about Mikaela told Yuu that something was wrong. "Mika...?"

"I... I mean what I said, Yuu." When Mika's cerulean eyes reappeared, Yuu saw more tears. "I wish we could stay like this. Forever and ever," Mika said with a small hiccup.

Yuu shifted his body back so he was facing Mika fully again, closing his fingers tightly around Mika's hands. "Who says we won't?"

Mika was taking in heaving sobs, but he let out a gasp of exhilaration when Yuichiro wrapped his arms around him, hugging Mika close to his chest. "One day, we won't have to worry about any of this vampire stuff or being livestock," Yuu promised. "We'll live somewhere happily with everyone else. I guarantee that..."

When Yuu retracted his arms from Mika, they moved closer to share each other's warmth, their foreheads touching with each lengthening breath.

"Thanks, Yuu," Mika said one last time. _For everything._

"Just go to sleep..." Yuu slurred, not moving from his spot.

Mika grinned. His billet-doux confession would have to wait. Someday, when what Yuu had said was true, when there were no vampires and no livestock for them. When they had escaped the vampire city, and left all their troubles behind...

* * *

 **~Four years later~**

* * *

Awoken by the dim aubade of birds at dawn, Yuu rubbed his forehead with one hand. "Not again," he mumbled. "Again and again and again. It never fails." Every night he dreamt of Mika and Akane and the others. He dreamt of Ferid slaughtering them all without a second thought. He dreamt of Mika bleeding in his arms, choking on his own blood, screaming at Yuu, pushing him away, telling him to leave him behind...

Yuichiro reached under his pillow. Beneath was the pistol Mika had stolen from Ferid's mansion. Yuu kept it there, closest to himself, in case something tried to creep up on him while he was sleeping. The pistol had saved his life the night that...

Yuu sucked back the sob that welled in his throat at the reminder. He wouldn't allow himself to cry over his dead family any longer. He would only become strong enough to avenge them.

As Yuichiro walked to class the first day of his suspension, he couldn't stop his mind from sifting over the thing Mika had said the night he'd been found so weak. _"Because I didn't know what 'love' was supposed to look and act like. Even after I was brought to the Hyakuya Orphanage and met Akane and the others, I still didn't know. Not until..."_

Not until what? What had he been meaning to say? _C'mon, Mika,_ Yuu grumbled internally, slamming the door to his locker shut after dropping the pistol inside. _You never talked to me about your past. I told you every little bit that happened with my parents whether you wanted to hear it or not. Why didn't you ever tell me of the kind of impression that yours left on you?_ A lead weight settled itself in Yuichiro's chest once the annoyance at his old friend's secrecy had gone. _Why didn't you tell me while you were still alive, idiot...?_ Yuu struggled to keep the tears from his eyes, having reached the classroom where he would meet Shinoa, and eventually Yoichi and Kimizuki.

Whether Yuu's redamancy toward Mika's feelings had already come and gone, neither Yuichiro nor Mikaela knew.

Miles away, Mikaela could only stare at the doorway to the world Yuu had disappeared, thinking what he was doing now. Mika could only wonder if he was making friends, if he was living happily among them. _I wish you could stay in that ignorant bliss forever,_ Mikaela thought. _But I'm afraid I have to tear you away from that. Even if you've found a new family, I've lost mine. All except one. And I will not let my last family member perish, especially when you're the one I love most._

* * *

 **Hey, hey, hey! Guess who's going down with this ship way more than they ever intended?! ME! I know this idea is really overused, Mika coming home after being at Ferid's, but I saw this list of eloquent words on Tumblr and my mind immediately jumped to MikaYuu, so here I am. More likely I'll add more chapters to** _ **this**_ **fic instead of the one I wrote before it if/when I get other MikaYuu ideas...**

 **Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I promised myself I'd write my other stories first before anything else, but uhg this idea just hit me like a freight train and I had to write it 'cause I can't get these two out of my head. Please don't forget to tell me what you thought below!**


	2. Livestock, Nothing More

**Summary:** Mikaela decides to go to the house of a vampire noble for medicine when Yuichiro gets deathly ill. He must face the fear and pain of being at the mercy of a vampire in order to save him.

* * *

 **Livestock, Nothing More**

* * *

Mikaela's fingers closed subconsciously around the tender flesh near his left collarbone as he stood before the doorway. There were still scars where Ferid had sucked his blood night after night, week after week. Since Mika resisted drinking human blood, the marks never fully healed. Neither had the one in his chest where Ferid pierced him the night he tried to escape, nor the crease in his skin where his arm had been severed...

Only the wounds from before he was a vampire remained. He hadn't wept since then for any reason. His own feelings were irrelevant. He had only one goal, anyway: protect Yuu at any cost. The scars, invisible from the outside, were the ones that ebbed away at Mikaela more than any scar on his body.

 _Yuu seemed really scared that night,_ Mika thought, taking his fingers off his uneven skin. _The night I was stupid enough to go home immediately after having my blood taken by Ferid... I should have known what would come of wanting to be home with the others..._ Really, it was Mika who had been scared, scared that he would lose Yuu.

With nothing else to think about as he waited for word of the progenitors' decision, the eye of Mikaela's mind clouded, traveling far back to the distant past. Mikaela cherished those memories more than anything else he currently possessed.

* * *

 **~Four years prior~**

* * *

Mika felt cold as the tube connected to his throat drained the blood from his body, sapping away at his life energy. To keep his mind from focusing on the pain, he occupied himself with thoughts. _After this, we'll find something to eat from the sewer. Maybe we'll even find something for Akane to make that stew everyone likes –_

A sharp pain shot from Mika's neck through his entire body like lightning, interrupting his thoughts. He didn't let himself cry out, cringing from the sensation. Flat against the backboard, he turned his head. "Hey, Yuu, how are you doing?"

Yuichiro was more affected by the blood extractions than anyone else from the Hyakuya Orphanage; Mika always had to help him home to keep him from collapsing on the street. Right then, Yuu's face was scrunched up in knots as he tried not to show any signs of pain. "Yeah, I'm fine... just fine..." he assured, his eyes shut tightly. He leaned toward Mika slightly, grunting. "Listen, Mika, when those blood-suckers' backs are turned, one day do you think we could –?"

"Don't move," ordered the hooded vampire making his rounds through the rows of panting children. He stalked toward Mika and Yuu, towering menacingly over Yuichiro with merciless red eyes. "If your tube falls out, we'll kill you immediately."

"I know that!" Yuichiro snapped back, giving the vampire a glare. He withdrew from the pain in his neck.

"Then sit still and shut up," the vampire commanded. He turned back to the pathway between the children and walked forward without waiting for Yuichiro's retort.

Yuu stuck his tongue out at the vampire's back. "Jeez, what's that bastard's problem?" he murmured.

When the blood collection was over, everyone was released out of the building via the bridge in front. Every time there was a blood farming, the vampires took one-fourth of each child's total blood content, which was enough to make everyone dizzy but not enough to faint. Usually Yuichiro would have been complaining about this very fact as Mikaela helped him cross the front bridge to the vampire handing out blood replenisher packs to children on their way out. Strangely, that day Yuu was silent.

"Here, Yuu," said Mika, holding out a pack of blood replenishing liquid to Yuu, who was leaning against the railing of the bridge so as not to fall over.

"It's almost been four years since this crap started," Yuu mumbled, more to himself as he took the pack from Mika ruefully. While Mika greeted the other children emerging from the farming building from the Hyakuya Orphanage, Yuichiro was hit by a large wave of wooziness and stumbled a bit. He sat down against the railing of the bridge as he twisted the top off the pack Mika had handed him and raised it to his lips. Catching a whiff from the inside, Yuichiro stopped before drinking any, squinting distastefully at the sickly, metallic-pink liquid inside. "Gross..."

Yuichiro was about to force the disgusting rubbery substance down his throat when everything – the bridge, the children, and Mika – swirled before him.

"Here you go," said Mika, smiling at the other kids as he handed out blood replenisher packs to them – so they didn't have to go near the vampire giving them out. Mikaela heard a loud thud somewhere behind him and turned around. When what he saw was Yuu sprawled across the ground, the metallic-pink liquid dripping out of his replenisher pack, Mika froze. "Huh? Y-Yuu...?"

"Hey, what's wrong with big brother Yuu?" one of the younger kids asked, clutching onto Mikaela's livestock uniform.

For once in his life, Mika couldn't answer with a reassuring smile. His eyes were huge, round orbs of distress, fixed upon the lifeless body of his collapsed best friend. "Y... Yuu!" Mika cried, rushing forward. He fell to his knees above Yuichiro, whose raven hair covered his face. Mika shook him. "H-hey, Yuu, wake up!"

Nearby, Akane worked to calm the others, scared seeing their older brother Yuu slumped on the ground like that.

"Yuu, please wake up!" Mika pleaded, shaking Yuichiro more violently. "Yuu! Yuu!" Standing, Mikaela shoved through the crowd of children waiting in line to receive blood replenisher packs from the hooded vampire handing them out. "My friend is sick!" he cried desperately. "Please, you have to help him!"

"I already gave you a handful of blood replenisher packs," stated the vampire in a dispassionate voice. "As long as he drinks it like everyone else, he should be fine."

"No, that didn't work!" said Mikaela, shaking his head with his fists clenched. "He needs medical attention – _real_ medicine! Right now!"

The demanding tone Mika used didn't rub well against the vampire. "Look here, you head of livestock," he spat. "We don't have any human medicine, are you crazy? If your friend is sick, that's on you."

"Are you saying... you don't care if he is... if Yuu is... going to die...?" Mika uttered.

"I don't have time to deal with brats like you," said the vampire. "You're holding up the line. Get away from here before I have to remove you myself."

"No, wait! You have to help me!" Mika shouted, but other children rushed past him, swarming aroundthe vampire and knocking him to the ground.

"What are we going to do, Mika?" asked one of the younger girls once Mikaela had squeezed himself out of the crowd of delirious children. "Big brother Yuu," she said in a concerned voice, tears in her eyes, "he isn't waking up..."

Mika looked to see Akane bent over with Yuichiro's head in her lap, trying to talk to him. _He looks so pale,_ Mika thought. _I have to find help... and fast._

Looping his arms under Yuu's shoulders, Mika lifted the top side of Yuichiro while Akane carried his legs. Mika ordered the others to go ahead to prepare a place for Yuu to sleep when they reached the shelter. As Mika and Akane carried an unconscious Yuu through the streets of the vampire city, Yuichiro's few breaths were shallow and very labored, as though it was painful to breathe. He didn't open his eyes either, which worried Mikaela further.

When they finally reached their shelter, Akane helped Mika lift Yuu up the ladder of their bunk, with many blankets and pillows. Everyone waited on the bunkbed for Yuu to wake up, but two hours later, he still hadn't.

"I'll make something to eat," Akane said finally to distract everyone.

"I'll help you, big sis Akane," said one of the older girls who had black hair and glasses.

"Same here," said one of the other boys.

"Me too!" chimed many of the younger children.

Almost all except Mika left Yuu's side. He had never seen Yuichiro in such a state. Ever. He was always bouncing with energy to destroy the vampires, even after having his blood taken from him, even when he first arrived at the Hyakuya Orphanage with all that had happened with his parents... Why now had he all of a sudden just collapsed? After everything else...?

Mika felt one of the other kids clutching his pants and looked over in surprise. "Big brother Yuu is gonna be all right, isn't he, Mika?" the kid asked, visibly disturbed by the thought that Yuu would never wake.

Placing an arm around the kid's shoulder, Mika tilted his head as he grinned at him. "Of course! He'll be better before you know it!"

His face brightened and he grinned at Mika in return. "Then I'll go help big sis Akane with dinner too!" He crawled down the ladder and to the counter with everyone else.

That was a lie. The first Mikaela had ever told to one of his family. He didn't think Yuichiro was going to be all right. In fact, he knew that Yuu wouldn't be. The fact that Yuu was having such a bad reaction to getting his blood taken now meant that his body had been on the edge all this time, and finally... it had had enough. Broken.

None of them had seen sunlight in nearly four years, trapped down here for the vampires' bidding. It had to be taking a toll on Yuu. It had to be taking a toll on everybody.

* * *

 **~That night~**

* * *

Yuichiro still hadn't woken up by the time dinner was ready. That night's rations consisted of beans and stale bread – a good combination of food for the children in the vampire city. All throughout dinner while the others talked, Mika couldn't bring himself to join in on the conversation. He ate deliberately, barely chewing his food before he swallowed.

"Mika?" Akane probed at one point during dinner, seeing how he picked at his food.

"Oh, sorry, Akane," Mika apologized, giving her a small smile. "It's really good, I'm just..." His gaze trailed back to the bunkbed.

"Worried about Yuu?" Akane finished for him.

He looked back down at his food. "Yeah..."

"I'm sure he'll wake up soon," said Akane, standing to take everyone's plates. She called a few of the others to help her take the plates to wash in the stream in the middle of the city.

Mikaela knew Akane was being genuine in her reassurance, but he knew otherwise. _Yuu is going to die,_ droned avoice in Mika's head. _Yuu is going to die if I don't do something._ Tears appeared in Mikaela's eyes at the mantra repeating itself in his mind. He didn't want to listen, or believe it, but if he did nothing... Yuu surely would not recover. _Yuu is... going to... die...?_ he ruminated hopelessly. Mika feverishly wiped tears from his eyes before anyone saw him crying.

He hated wasting food, especially in a place like this, but Mika couldn't finish his meal. He scraped his plate in the gutter and asked one of the other children to take it to Akane by the stream. Normally he would have done it himself, but he was too scared to leave Yuu. Scared that would be the last time he saw Yuu alive...

Sitting on the top of the bunk with his legs folded beside him, Mika heard the cracks in Yuu's breathing, which was reduced to only a few breaths per minute. _I have to do something,_ he thought, _but what can I do...? That vampire said they don't have any human medicine down here... Not even the vampire nobility could help me...?_ As a scenario ran itself through his head, Mika gasped. _Wait._

"Big brother Mika...?" one of the kids asked, also watching over Yuichiro with Mika.

 _I might be able to save Yuu._ "I'll be back," Mika said, scrambling over to the ladder on the side of the bunkbed. "Tell Akane not to worry about me. Can you do that?"

The boy nodded unsurely, though he wanted to ask what Mika was planning on doing.

Mika smiled at him. "Thank you." Then his head disappeared below the bunkbed, and he burst out the door at a sprint.

Mikaela dashed between buildings and other children making their way back to their shelters for the night, to the residential area of the vampires, searching for a way over the surrounding wall. After only a brief moment of trepidation, Mika dragged old crates and other larges pieces of stone debris from the underground ceiling. He was just able to reach over and latch his arms around the thick top of the wall, pull himself over, and drop down on the other side. Unfortunately, the moment Mika's feet touched the ground, he was spotted by a pair of vampires on the far end of the street. "Hey, what's livestock doing here?"

"C-crap...!" Mika ran along the wall until he found a small alleyway behind one of the buildings. The vampires' hoods concealed their faces except for their piercing red eyes as they rushed toward Mika.

Mika heard one of them yell at the entrance to the alleyway. "It's too cramped!" He continued sidling the wall, when one of the vampires appeared on the other side, boxing him in.

"You have nowhere to run now, little livestock," bellowed the first vampire. "You might as well give up and turn yourself in." And in a lower, more taunting voice, he said, "If you do that, we might not kill you for breaking the rules."

Mika was, quite literally, caught between a rock and a hard place – two hard places actually. He had nowhere to run. His head turned frantically to the wall, hoping for some way to climb back over it, to the area designated for livestock until he could come back and try again. The wall was much too high for him though, and the only light he received from the lamp above it was blocked out when another hooded vampire appeared, snatching him from above. "Gotcha!"

Hands bound behind his back, a vampire led Mika into the mansion of the noble who owned the property where Mika had trespassed. Red carpets adorned the floor and walls of the living room, stone statues of gargoyles and other gothic architecture on the furniture. Mika only had eyes for the vampire sitting on the couch in the center of the room, however. He was forced to his knees before the noble.

"Well, well, what do we have here~?" he said, uncrossing his legs as he stood from the couch. He walked jauntily over to Mika who glared daggers dripping with fear at the silver-haired vampire noble. The noble's cape swayed around his shoulders and legs with each graceful step. "Oooh, what a _scary_ look you're giving me," the noble teased, hugging himself. "But I can tell that you're not one who would just throw your life away." He leaned forward, a hand on Mika's cheek. "Tell me, little livestock, why did you try to break into my mansion?"

Mika turned his face away from the noble, not answering.

"Come now," cooed the vampire. "If you tell me, I might be able to give you whatever it is you want."

"Really?!" Mika burst, lurching forward in the vampire's grasp. The guard threatened to immobilize Mika with a chop on the back of the neck, but the noble held up a hand to stop him.

"My name is Ferid Bathory. I'm the seventh progenitor of this city. And you?" he inquired, opening a hand to the child crouched on his floor.

Mika stared warily up at Ferid. "Mikaela Hyakuya," he introduced quietly.

"So then, tell me, Mika... what's a cute little livestock like yourself doing here at this hour, hm~?"

"I was..." Mika stopped, gritted his teeth. Did he really want to say? Did he really want to tell this _vampire_ that he was here searching for a cure for his sick family? Ferid said he might give Mika whatever it was he needed if he told him... that sounded too good to be true. _I'm going to die here whether I tell him or not,_ Mika reasoned. _I just hope they don't punish Yuu and the others for my own reckless actions..._ As long as Mika didn't tell the vampires their names or faces, he figured it was best to go with this gamble. Mika looked Ferid in the eyes. "I was searching for some medicine for a family member of mine. He got sick after the blood collection today."

"Oh ho~?" Ferid sang. "And here I thought that you livestock were selfish, only caring for yourselves."

Mikaela wouldn't give this vampire the satisfaction he wanted by teasing him. Instead of lashing out violently, Mika decided full submission to be the better option. "Lord Ferid, will you please help me?! I have no one else to go to..."

"Of course, Mika," Ferid answered a little too easily. Mika waited for him to add, "I only ask for something worthwhile in return. A kind of payment, if it were."

"What kind of payment...?" Mika asked.

"The only kind of payment that you livestock can give." When Mika didn't understand, Ferid leaned closer, his ruby eyes glinting in the dim light of his living room. "Your blood," he whispered in Mika's ear.

Mika felt a chill at the vampire's words. He stuttered, "B-but I already give my blood whenever I –"

"I'm not talking about blood packaged in a glass or bottle," Ferid interrupted simply, placing his hands on his hips.

"Y-you mean... from me... directly...?" Mika muttered with wide eyes.

"Ah ha, you're smart after all, aren't you~?" Ferid chuckled out loud. "How about this then, Mika: if you let me drink your blood, I'll make sure my guard here doesn't kill you, _and_ give you what you need."

Mika didn't want to trust the word of a vampire... but it was the only word he had. If this noble wouldn't help Yuu, none of them would. "Wh-when will the medicine be ready...?" Mika hesitated to ask. "My friend... he's really sick, so –"

"Then I will prepare the treatment immediately," said Ferid. He gave a nod to the vampire behind Mika. A slice, and Mika felt the ropes around his wrists loosen. He watched the guard leave in a sweep of grey robes, rubbing the marks on his wrists. "So, Mika~?" Turning back around, the dark sneer of Ferid Bathory awaited his reply.

Mika tried to say it without fear as sweat beaded on his forehead. "S-sure. Go ahead." _If it's to save Yuu, I'll do anything._

"Bare your neck," Ferid ordered.

Mika slid the top of his livestock clothing down until his left shoulder and collarbone were exposed. He found himself shaking unbelievably in anticipation for two sharp fangs to sink deep into his skin, though the room was suddenly very warm.

"Are you scared?" Ferid asked. A shiver traveled up Mika's spine as the vampire's long, cold fingers curled around his arms, holding him steady.

"I'm okay," he managed to say in a small voice. He couldn't shake the voice that screamed in his mind, screaming that this was just a trick to let Ferid drink from him, every last drop, with the promise Yuu would be saved. _What other choice do I have right now?_ Mika pleaded through his despair. _Yuu needs medical attention immediately! If there's any chance that this vampire will help me –!_

He squeaked out loud when Ferid bit unceremoniously into his flesh, two knives in his skin that throbbed painfully with every slurp. Cold. He was so cold. _This is worse,_ Mika thought, his beating heart sounding like a decadent drum in his ears and throat. _Much worse than the tubes in the blood farming building._ Black spots appeared in Mika's vision. If not for the pain spreading all throughout his body from his shoulder, he would have passed out right then. _This hurts... it hurts a lot... when is he going to stop...?_ He could already hear Yuichiro scolding him in the next life: _"What are you doing, idiot?"_

The deep red carpet swam beneath Mika's knees, bubbling like a sea of blood. Before Mikaela knew it, that sea, along with everything else, faded to black.

* * *

 **~A few hours later~**

* * *

"Mikaa? Mikaaaa?"

"Mn..." He tried to open his eyes.

"Ah, you're awake," said Ferid.

"Wh... what happened...?" Groaning at the pain in his left shoulder, Mika tried to sit up.

"You might want to take it easy," advised Ferid.

Mika shuddered at the icy, gloved hand on his shoulder. Opening his eyes, Mikaela stared at the smug face of Ferid Bathory. The vampire noble Mika had allowed to drink his blood. "Y-you..." He had been laid out on Ferid's couch while he was unconscious.

"Your blood was very delicious," said Ferid, as if it was a compliment. He stood up from his crouching position next to the couch, a hand on his hip. "It seems I got a little carried away, being that this was your first time to have a vampire drink from you directly. You should be fine now though."

Mika didn't care about that. He said loudly, "Then, what about –!"

"The medicine?" Ferid asked. He revealed a vial of deep blue liquid from behind him and held it down to Mika as if he'd just performed a magic trick. "Ta-daaa~! Just get him to drink this, and he should be better by morning."

"Thank you very much!" Mika said, taking the vial from Ferid's gloved hand. "I'm sorry for being rude, but I really must get back to my sick friend."

"I understand," said Ferid. "It's quite late, and he could be dead already."

Mika tried not to let Ferid's bluntness get to him, swinging his legs around the side of the couch. He hurried to the front entrance of the mansion, feeling Ferid's dark eyes on his back the entire way.

"Oh, and Mika..."

Mikaela stopped by the doorway, turning back.

"I'd be willing to let you come back sometime if you so wish," said Ferid.

At first Mikaela didn't understand what he meant. "Uh... I'll think about it. Thank you again, Lord Ferid," he said as he bowed, then sprinted out the front door, and down the road.

"Ah haaa~ You made the right choice, Mika," Ferid said to no one in particular. "If not for your delicious blood and cute attitude, I would have drank from you until you were dead just now..." He added with a touch of humor, "I can't wait to see that face when it's contorted with despair. You should cherish your precious 'family' while you can."

* * *

 **~Later~**

* * *

Mika ran as fast as he could without tripping and dropping the vial in his hands. In spite of the weakness he felt from having his blood drained twice in the same day, getting back to Yuu was top priority. _Why did Ferid have the cure to Yuu's illness even though the other vampires said it didn't exist? Why would they try to keep things from us if we're their precious livestock?_ Mika shook his head to cast the thought from his mind as he ran. _I can worry about that later. Right now, the only thing I need to focus on is curing Yuu!_

He sprinted down the roads, taking the right turn on the sloped path to their shelter and bursting through the front door. Immediately he saw Akane awake on the top bunk with Yuichiro, all of the others asleep behind her.

"Mika, where have you been?" she asked the moment she saw him.

Mikaela didn't find it necessary to answer her question, just hurried up the ladder with the vial grasped in both palms. With sweaty hands, he tried to crack open the cork on the top and couldn't.

"Mika, where did you find that?!"

"Akane, please open this!" Mika said, shoving the vial in her hands.

"Sure..." She popped the cork off on the first try. Mika grabbed the vial back from a stunned Akane, and crawled up beside Yuichiro. The tears in Mika's eyes spilled over when he saw how blue Yuu's lips were, how dark the circles under his eyes had become. He wasted no time tipping the substance into Yuu's mouth, Akane helping him sit Yuu's back against the wall so he wouldn't choke.

"How long do you think it will take?" Mika whispered, his cerulean eyes swimming with tears, fixated upon his sick friend.

Akane stared at Mika, surprised at the amount of worry he showed for Yuu. He'd never gotten that emotional at the Hyakuya Orphanage, even when it was announced one of them had cancer and had to be sent away for chemotherapy. The director had been in tears over that, though Mika had done his best to keep everyone cheerful, always with a smile on his face. _Why is Mika so worried about Yuu?_ It could have been because Mika felt he was responsible for whatever happened to any of the kids from Hyakuya now in the vampire city, but it wasn't like none of them had never gotten sick before. Akane didn't know if any of their illnesses had been deadly. Even still –

Yuichiro stirred. The color of his skin had changed back to a brighter, more healthy shade of peach, his breaths more even and drawn out. Yuu blinked in the low light of their lantern. "Mi... Mika...?"

Mika held back the urge to flop on top of his friend with hugs and kisses. He wrapped his arms carefully around Yuu's head and neck instead. "Yuu!" Mika wailed. Tears fell down his face and onto Yuu's neck and shoulder. "Thank goodness...! I thought you were going to die!"

"Huh?" Yuu murmured, blinking in surprise. "Hey, Mika, it's kinda hard for me to breathe like this –"

Mika jumped back from Yuichiro at once. "I'm sorry, Yuu. I didn't mean to get carried away like that... I'm just..." He quickly wiped away the tears in his eyes.

"What... happened to me?" Yuchiro asked, noticing everyone else asleep.

"You got sick this morning after we had our blood drawn," Mika explained.

"Oh..." A little more awake now, seeing how Mika wiped his eyes, Yuu grumbled, "Please tell me that you weren't sitting there crying over me the entire time."

Mika scratched the back of his head with one hand and laughed, despite the red, tear-stained spots of skin on his cheeks. "What would you do if I said I did~?"

"I'd call you an idiot."

"You were really, really sick, Yuu..." said Mika.

"I was fine," Yuu huffed haughtily, though a few shallow coughs wracked his body.

Mika smiled, his eyes lowering to the wooden boards on the top of the bunkbed. "I'm sure you were... but I needed to be certain..."

As Akane watched their light exchange of words, she could only smile to herself, remaining speechless at the level of Mika's worry for Yuu. But what Mika did to get that medicine, Akane would really like to know.

In the mansion on the edge of the residential area of the vampire nobles, Ferid Bathory counted down the days until Mikaela would come running back to his mansion, asking for more. Asking for a life in the vampire city that humans couldn't have. "My cute little livestock," Ferid crooned, sauntering down the shadowy halls of his mansion. "I can't wait to see how you'll meet your end."

* * *

 **I am now literal MikaYuu trash.**

 **I would like to thank everyone who has favorited and reviewed the story so far! Ah, I always love getting into new fandoms and meeting new fans! ^o^ It really does warm my heart! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter too! Please do leave your thoughts!**


	3. Demon of a Hundred Nights

**Summary:** "Hey, Yuu. Why did you leave me behind?" Mikaela asked, cocking his head to one side as he grinned. Yuichiro knows the one behind the face of his old friend is actually Asuramaru, but after so many nights of the same thing, even Yuu's determination can waver.

* * *

 **Demon of a Hundred Nights**

* * *

Ferid Bathory's lecherous fingers stroked Mikaela's chin before his teeth sunk into Mikaela's flesh, rattling his entire body as that voice knocked down the white marble hall. "Miiikaaa, Miiikaaa," Ferid sang in the same crude tone he had on so many nights when Mika arrived at his mansion. "Miiii-Miiiikaaa~" This was followed by a chuckle. "Ah, I knew you'd be here. Did you get the report? Apparently, they finally found your precious angel that you've been looking for. As anticipated, he was being used by the dirty humans. By 'he'..."

Mikaela was barely paying attention to Ferid, only the memory of him, flashing hotly through his mind. Mika drew his sword, directing the tip mercilessly at the throat of the vampire who murdered his family, surprised when Ferid smirked as he clarified, "I mean Yuichiro Hyakuya. Now, how are you going to gather the threads of your story, Mikaela Hyakuya?"

Mika didn't allow his surprise to show in his face. Slowly, his lips spread, light cerulean eyes traveling up to meet the amusement in Ferid's red ones. _That was... a flashback? More importantly, did he say..._ _Yuu... has been located...?!_ Mika stepped back, sheathed his sword.

"Aww, you're not going to kill me after all~?" Ferid asked teasingly. "That makes, what... the tenth time now? Or was that the eleventh? I've lost count..."

Mikaela remained silent, attention focused back onto the doorway to the human world where Yuu had disappeared. _Yuu... it's taken four years to find you, but... I'll save you from the greedy humans. For better or worse, everything is about to begin. Please wait for me just a little longer._

* * *

 **~Two weeks later~**

* * *

Poking her head into Yuu's, Yoichi's, and Kimizuki's tent, Shinoa found Yuichiro sitting on a cot with his demon sword laid across his lap. "Everyone else has already gotten dinner," she informed him.

Yuu turned his head toward her with a disturbed look.

"What?" Shinoa questioned.

"Don't go sticking your head in here without asking," Yuu said in a deflated tone. "I could've been getting dressed or something."

Shinoa giggled, hugging the tent flaps around her and pretending to shiver. "Ohhh, I'm sorry. I forgot Yuu is a cherry boy who gets bashful whenever it comes to anything remotely suggestive. Next time I'll be sure to take a peek before I poke my head in, 'kay~?"

"Don't do that either!" Yuu yelled after her, but Shinoa had already left.

"All the food is gonna be gone if you don't come soon~" she called back to him as she skipped away.

Yuu squinted at the crack in the tent where she had disappeared, then turned back toward his sword. Drawing it from its sheath, Yuu held the blade vertically to his face. The handle vibrated in his hands with demonic power, with the desire to gain control of him.

As he stared at the sword pulsing with lust, Yuu found himself wondering, _Why didn't I bring the pistol?_ He had thought the memento would only weigh him down on the battlefield, since it was useless against vampires, but the past four years just the thought of the pistol close to him every night as he slept put his mind at ease. It made him feel safer, and that's what he needed right now especially with Asuramaru plaguing his dreams every night in the form of Mika. Yuichiro wished he had brought the pistol...

After using the sword's power to save humans under the control of the vampires, Yuu was forced to remember living in the vampire city and leaving his family behind. Mitsuba had overheard and asked Yuu about it, so he felt the demon's presence in the back of his mind more than ever. He wanted to connect with the sword and demand that he stop tormenting him, but Yuichiro knew his anguish would only fuel the demon further.

"I'd better join the others." As Yuichiro sheathed Asuramaru and stood up to leave, he was hit by a sudden wave of dizziness that forced him to lean against the side of the tent. Cursing, he emerged from the tent into the blinding sun, surrounded by a camping ground of the Imperial Demon Army, where the Demon Moon Company had decided to rest. He hoped, at least, to leave his nightmares until after dinner.

* * *

 **~Night~**

* * *

Mikaela appeared in his dreams again, in his livestock clothes, hands folded behind him. He grinned at Yuichiro disarmingly. "Hey, Yuu. Why did you leave me behind?" he asked innocently. "You'll keep having this dream until you answer the quest –"

"Shut up! You're not my precious family!" Yuu yelled at Asuramaru, materializing into a form that fit his current age. "Stop pretending to be Mika!"

"Oh ho?" Demon Mika's eyes widened in amusement, lips spreading in a smirk that showed his teeth. "So you've finally decided to fight back, huh?"

"That's right," said Yuu, "and I'm telling you that this is ridiculous, because I'll never believe you're the real Mika. He would never say something like that."

"You're right," the demon agreed. "He wouldn't _say_ something like that. Just because he wouldn't say it, that doesn't mean he never thought it."

The gears in Yuichiro's mind came a shuddering halt as he processed the demon's words. "What are you saying?"

Mika lifted one hand. "I'm saying maybe there was more to your precious family than you knew, Yuichiro Hyakuya."

"Be quiet," Yuu commanded. "I knew Mika better than anyone, and I know for a fact that he wouldn't say something like that. Mika was a kind, responsible, and cared about the others. He even went to a vampire noble to get us things, and tried to find us a way out of that hell... It's because of him that I'm here and alive today..." Yuu's voice trailed off. _Wait..._

"Ah, but don't you see the problem right there, Yuu?" demon Mikaela asked, using a voice similar to what Mika had when he was joking around with Yuu. "I never told you about going to a vampire noble's house because I knew that you wouldn't understand, because I knew that I couldn't trust you. Since you were always going off the handle and doing things that put everyone else in danger."

Yuu's eyes were wide and fixated upon Mika. The world rocked beneath his feet. He shook his head, stepped backward. "Sh-shut up!"

"What's wrong, Yuu?" Mika asked in a cute voice. "Are you still too afraid to know the truth about me? That you were no help at all, yet in the end you were the one who survived when I deserved it most?"

Yuichiro shut his eyes, shouting at the demon. "N-no, Mika trusted me! He wouldn't say something like –!"

"This is why I never talked to you about my family, Yuu," Mika cut in. "I knew you wouldn't understand, because you only think of yourself."

"That's not true!" Yuu shouted, pleading now. "I cared about you and Akane and everyone! I really did!" Tears formed in his eyes.

"Not according to your rash actions that put all of us at risk," Mika said. "You never really showed us that you cared until we were dead."

Yuichiro lowered his head, the ground beneath him quaking. "Shut up...!"

"And yet you're glad that you were able to get out of there alive, even if it was without the rest of us."

"Shut up!" he yelled.

Mika smiled sweetly. "Yuu~"

Yuichiro clasped his hands over his ears, trying to shut out the demon that sounded so much like his best friend. "SHUT UP!" he screamed. "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" His feet were warped by tears when he opened his eyes, his brain wracked and body heaving with every flashback he possessed of Mika running through his mind. Desperately, he searched for something to counteract the demon's claims, yet... he found nothing. All he remembered was Mika's perpetual cheerfulness, his unshakable spirit... always reasonable in any circumstance. _Mika... is it true? You only once told me about your parents... every day, you went along with whatever I wanted to do... Was it because... you didn't... trust me...?_

 _No, this is just Asuramaru trying to gain control of me!_ his subconscious flared. _I knew Mika better than anyone! I have to stay determined so I can eliminate the vampires and keep others from dying, like my new friends! If my heart wavers even a little, Asuramaru will –!_

"I can sense the doubt in your heart, Yuu," Mika said, frowning at Yuichiro. He walked toward Yuu, arms spread. "If you want, I can make it go away. You trust me, right, Yuu?"

Yuu reeled on the demon with ferocity, pushing Mika away. "Get away from me!" _"Because I didn't know what 'love' was supposed to look and act like,"_ one of the many questions about their past rang in his mind. _"Even after I was brought to the Hyakuya Orphanage and met Akane and the others, I still didn't know. Not until..."_ "No more," Yuu uttered, horrified for wanting to make Mikaela disappear. "No more...!" he cried.

"C'mon, Yuu, I know that you want it all to go away," said Mika, clutching Yuu's arms and looking up at his face. "All the fear, the pain, and deception from the past, carrying on to the present..." A dark cloud swirled around Mikaela, blotting him out until only his hands on Yuu's arms remained. " _Don't you just want to forget about that horrible past and destroy all those filthy vampires?_ " Asuramaru asked.

Yuichiro burst from the covers on his cot, breathing rapidly as if he had just emerged from a surface of water. He blinked, gaze darting about the dark tent, to the flaps whistling in the night wind, to the lumps of blankets in the cots near his: Yoichi and Kimizuki. Clutching his head, Yuu tried to sort his jumbled thoughts. "Wait... that was..." He lifted his head toward the blade resting so innocently against his bedside.

It had been a dream, but what Asuramaru had said was true... How much about Mika had he known, really? How much had Mika told him, and how much had he kept a secret? He'd only ever talked about his parents in detail once, and Yuu only found out he was going to Ferid's the same day they tried to escape... He didn't know what Mika had been meaning to say that night he was so weak. _Why didn't I ask him?_ He felt like it would explain the reason for everything else, why he was so secretive, why he never talked about anything dreary unless asked about it first...

At a time like this, Yuichiro almost missed the dreams he used to have, the ones about everyone dying right in front of him. That fate wasn't going to change and Yuu knew it, but after all this time, suggesting Mikaela never told Yuu who he truly was...

 _"I can make it go away if you want,"_ Asuramaru had offered, extending Mika's hand. _"You trust me, right, Yuu?"_

Yuu had trusted Mika, and he trusted Asuramaru would make the pain and the doubt go away, but that would be betraying the family that he left to die... Erasing them from his mind was not an option. _"There's nothing in the past,"_ that's what Guren had told him. Yuichiro couldn't accept that. There was no way he would just forget Mika and everyone else... They were the reason he was alive today, and he wouldn't allow their deaths to be in vain.

At any cost, he would eliminate the vampires, _every_ last one...

* * *

 **~The next day~**

* * *

"You don't look like you slept very well..." Yoichi commented as the three boys in the Demon Moon Company pulled on their uniforms. When Yuichiro turned toward him with a tired expression, Yoichi amended his statement, waving his hands in front of him. "I-I didn't mean that to be rude! Are you doing all right, Yuu?"

Kimizuki joined him after pulling his uniform over his shoulders and fixing his glasses on his face. "He's right, Hyakuya. You don't look too welll."

"I'm fine," Yuu mumbled, annoyed at having both of them on his case.

"A-are you sure?" Yoichi asked, stepping over to Yuu as he pulled on his boots at the side of his cot.

"Yeah, there's nothing you guys can do about it, so you don't need to worry." _That sounds like something that idiot would say,_ croaked a voice in his mind. _All that talk about taking the burden by himself... was that only a ruse to stop me from messing things up?_

Yoichi didn't look convinced by Yuu's reply, but Kimizuki cut in, "If you're having trouble sleeping, then maybe you should ask one of the medics if your demon sword is having an effect on you –?"

"I said I'm fine," Yuu interrupted him sourly. "Can't you guys listen to what I'm saying? It's nothing. I was just restless from the day before is all."

Kimizuki hollered angrily, "I was just trying to show some concern, blockhead! See if I care if you die on the battlefield from lack of rest! Only if you get the rest of us caught up trying to save you!" He stomped out of the tent muttering obscenities to himself.

"Wait, Kimizuki!" Yoichi called, running after him.

Yuu didn't get up to follow them. _Do they think so too? That I'm a loose cannon who can't be trusted with anything...?_

Yoichi returned to the tent. "I'm sorry, Kimizuki doesn't seem to be listening to me. You'll have to apologize to him yourself."

Yuichiro had no intention of apologizing for something that was _clearly_ Kimizuki overreacting, but he nodded and gave Yoichi an appreciative smile. "Okay, thanks."

"I agree that you should see a medic if you need help though, Yuu," Yoichi said with concern. "See you at breakfast –"

"Yoichi, wait."

"Hm?"

"Well, the truth is, I am having trouble controlling my demon," Yuu admitted, averting his eyes from Yoichi, one hand on the back of his head. "I didn't want Kimizuki knowing that, and I don't really want Shinoa or Mitsuba to know either, so –"

"That's fine, I won't tell them," Yoichi said, smiling at him. He stepped back into the tent, returning to the cots.

"It's just..."

Yoichi stood, waiting for Yuu to tell him.

Yuu gritted his teeth. _Mika, how could you stay quiet about what was going on while I was blabbing on about destroying the vampires, when you had an actual plan underway...?_

"If you aren't ready to talk about it, you don't have to, Yuu –"

Yuu blurted, startling Yoichi, "N-no, it's just –!" His gaze dropped back to the floor, to his clenched fists in his lap. "I... I was thinking about my friends... before I escaped the vampire city... One of them... appeared to me in my dream last night, which was nothing new, but then he claimed that I didn't know anything about him while he was alive because I didn't care about him enough... I... I can't get that out of my head... So, maybe, what Asuramaru said... is the truth."

Yoichi sat down beside Yuichiro, who slowly looked him in the face. "Yuu, you said that your friends in the vampire city meant more to you than anything, didn't you?"

"Yeah, they still do..."

"Do you think they felt the same way?"

"I..." Yuu wanted to say "of course," but after the doubt Asuramaru placed in his heart about Mikaela not trusting him... maybe they hadn't.

"Demon sword aside, do you think they loved you back in the same way?" Yoichi asked.

Yuichiro's cheeks lit at the word "love." "Jeez, when you put it that way... But yeah, I think so."

"Then isn't it okay if there are things they never told you?" Yoichi asked.

Yuichiro's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"If you feel like they loved you the same way, then it's okay if they hid things from you, isn't it? Usually, when you keep things from people you love, you're doing it to protect them, because you love them, not to be cruel..."

"You keep using the word 'love,'" Yuu interjected embarrassedly.

"I'm being serious!" said Yoichi, raising his clenched fists. "That's exactly what my sister did when she told me to hide under the bed. I didn't know she would... You know..." Yuu wanted to apologize for dredging up some unpleasant memories, but Yoichi bounced back quickly, this time with a more determined look on his face. "But I knew for a fact that she sacrificed herself for me out of love. So you shouldn't worry either, Yuu."

 _That also sounds like something that idiot would say,_ Yuu thought. The most horrible memory contained in his head came to mind, the one where Mikaela screamed at him to leave him behind, bleeding to death before his eyes. _Mika... wouldn't have died for nothing. He wasn't the type of guy to do stuff for free..._ A corner of Yuu's mouth jerked up at the thought. "Still," Yuu said, "I feel like... if Mika trusted me the same way I trusted him, he wouldn't have kept anything from me..."

"He could have been doing it for other reasons too," Yoichi told him.

Yuu watched Yoichi as he stood from the cot.

"We should probably get going, but don't hesitate to come to me if you need to talk, okay?!"

Yuu eventually nodded. "Right..."

"Come on." Yoichi helped Yuu off the cot, and as they walked toward the cafeteria tent, Yuu wondered if he was right. Had Mika only wanted to protect him from Ferid, because knowing could have put all of them in more danger?

Even so, that still didn't explain what he had said that night...

 _"Even after I was brought to the Hyakuya Orphanage and met Akane and the others, I still didn't know. Not until..."_

 _What other reasons could Mika have had for keeping things from me?! Maybe it wasn't just me... he seemed to keep things from everyone else too._

"We'll be making our way to the front lines in Shinjuku," Shinoa announced at the head of the table once everyone had finished their meal. "It's been requested that everyone aid in the battle to uphold the border, so we'll have to leave immediately. Gather your things and then let's move out."

"We need a vehicle if we want to get there in time," said Mitsuba, bored, with her cheek leaning against one fist.

"There aren't exactly working cars lying around out here," said Kimizuki.

"She's right, though," agreed Shinoa. "We need to get there A-S-A-P, so why don't you start scouting the area for a suitable car, Kimizuki~?"

Kimizuki didn't even retort, only gave Shinoa an impregnable stare before standing from the table. "Everyone's in _such_ a good mood today," he grumbled, stalking out of the tent with his arms swinging at his sides.

"Yuu, would you like any help?" Yoichi asked as everyone else stood. He wasn't just asking about Yuichiro packing his things. He could see the vacancy in Yuu's contemplative stare through the table as his mind was focused on other things.

"Huh? Oh, I'm just... trying to decide if what you said is true..." Yuu murmured. "Mika seemed to keep things from everyone... I wonder if... whatever reason he had for hiding things from me was something he hid from all of us."

Yoichi smiled. "I can't help you there, but if you guys cared that much for each other and he wasn't willing to tell you, then I'm sure he wasn't willing to tell anybody. You shouldn't worry about it."

Slowly, Yuichiro looked up from the table and smiled back at Yoichi. "Thanks. You're a good guy, you know that, right?"

Yoichi scratched one cheek, chuckling bashfully. "I still owe you for saving me from that vampire in the school _and_ for stopping me from becoming a demon, so don't mention it..."

The Mika that Yuu knew... the one who was kind, a little mischievous, and always willing to listen to him when he was having a rough night... that was the Mika that Yuichiro remembered. And if that's the way Mika wanted to be remembered, then Yuu would. Even if that Mika wasn't still with him right now, as was the pistol he left behind, Yuu was certain of one thing.

 _That's right, no one knew Mika better than me. All the nights we stayed up talking, the afternoons we spent reading... if he wanted to talk to me, he would have... I know it..._

Yuu ignored the voice of Asuramaru in the back of his mind that jeered humorously, "Yuichiro, there's still doubt in your heart."

 _I know it..._

* * *

 **I think the fans (myself included) glaze over Yuichiro's side of the story, especially when it comes to MikaYuu, which is why I found this chapter very necessary~ Also I wanted to include some of the other characters! And the series never really explained what happened to that new dream that Yuu got after he obtained Asuramaru...**

 **There is still much more to Mikaela's** _ **and**_ **Yuichiro's side that I have planned to write... Oh hohoho... Please don't forget to tell me what you thought of the chapter!**


	4. Bound By Blood

**Summary:** Mika reminisces his time with the vampires while Yuichiro grieves for the families he has lost.

* * *

 **Bound By Blood**

* * *

Pain electrified his body, lancing up and down his spine as he rolled across the ground. Mika clutched his stomach where he'd been kneed in the gut, convulsing, crying out at the spasms that threatened to overtake his latent vampiric body. Damn, he still wasn't used to this.

From her perch on the ledge at the wall, Krul Tepes held up a hand to halt the guard's pursuit. "Again," she ordered, disappointment laced in her tone. Mikaela shot her a glare once his wound had healed enough, though blood stained the floor beneath him. Krul answered Mika with eyes that were mirthless, penetrating, and crimson in the dim light of the underground training arena. "You lost because you became desynchronized with your sword," she said, disregarding the rage on Mika's face. "If you can't at least maintain synchronization with your weapon, you'll never be of use to anyone. Now get up," she commanded when Mika looked about to collapse again. "Do it again."

Dragging his sword off the ground, Mika wiped the blood from his chin as he stood. He swayed a little under the guard's vigilant watch, both of them once again taking offensive stances. Being no more than an early teen, Mika was over a head shorter, however the gleam in the guard's slitted red eyes didn't make it past him. They were alight with which move the pseudo vampire would make, hungry for entertainment. _This is mere child's play for a grunt like him,_ Mika realized.A wry grin crept across Mika's lips at that. Such things were the only reason he had to smile these days anyway as long as Yuu was lost, everyone else dead...

Mikaela murmured, "Sword, drink my blood," endeavoring to regain his breath. The pain twisting in his abdomen had faded to little more than a dull ache, though from the thorny vines that weaved around his right wrist, plunged into his flesh, he borne a new pain. Mika tried not to let his uncertainty touch his expression, but the vampire guard gave him no time to become acquainted with the sensation from his sword and lunged for him without warning. Mika gasped, barely able to block the guard's attack which sent his blood-orange sword flying the other direction. His back slammed hard against the stone wall; a sharp yelp escaped his lips as he crashed to the ground, cringing from the paralysis wracking shivers up and down his entire body.

Krul sighed, standing from her perch against the wall. As she walked over to Mikaela, the vampire guard sheathed his sword and bowed out of the way for his queen. "What the hell was that?" she asked. Her voice was steady, which conveyed more than anything that she was annoyed.

Mikaela dared not look her in the eye. "I'm deeply sorry," he apologized, keeping his head down.

Krul snapped, "'Sorry' isn't good enough. In exchange for your freedom on the battlefield, you promised to become my Seraph. But you're worthless to me if you can't even fight. You know that, right?"

Mika remained silent as a small trickle of blood slipped down his chin and onto the floor between his thighs. Krul let out a small giggle of amusement. "Hmph. I guess there is only so much you can do as long as you're only drinking _my_ blood." She sighed again as she lifted one hand, saying, "If you need power, why not drink the blood of a human –?"

Mika's blue eyes were wild and afraid as he turned them on her, fangs bared. "No! I can't do that!"

Krul's smirk only grew with approval at Mikaela's tone. "Then learn to fight correctly, Mikaela Hyakuya. Whatever it takes." She turned toward the door in a twirl of ribbons and fabric, then paused at the bottom of the stairs, glancing back at Mika to add, "Even if you have to die in order to do so."

The vampire guard lingered only a little longer than Krul until he too disappeared up the stairs, leaving Mikaela alone in the stone-bound training arena below the palace. Once the guard's footsteps got lost in the crowd on the upper floor, Mika exhaled. He raised one hand instinctively to hold the front of his white uniform, his gaze drifting to watch the candles flicker firelight over the walls and leading off underground passageways. His vampiric eyes were comfortable in the lack of light exposure, though the world was more amplified to him now – the sounds of vampires moving on the upper floors of the palace. His awareness of the dust swirling about the arena and the fluctuating air currents traveling throughout the underground halls. Reluctantly, Mikaela stood, his boots shuffling against the stone ground, over to his sword – the blade now a dull metallic grey, starved for his blood.

He sheathed the sword in the scabbard lying against the wall, but his feet slowed as he came to the bottom of the stairs. He closed his eyes, sucking in deep breaths through his nose and out his mouth, clearing his mind. _I must only drink Krul's blood,_ he reminded himself. _I can't drink the blood of a human so I don't become any more of a monster. Not before I find Yuu._

His senses also made him _painfully_ aware of the odorous presence of the thousands of small bodies carrying succulent blood in the upstairs, all of which would be unable to stop him if he were to –

Mika shook himself, then smacked himself firmly on the cheeks with both hands, pulling on blond locks of hair, attempting to dull his own desire for human blood. Krul's blood was more than sufficient to keep Mika from losing his mind, but he had often heard from the others how _delicious_ human blood was. Mika would _not_ let himself give in to temptation however. Not until he found Yuu...

Suddenly, at the top of the stairs, Mika caught wind of a conversation a patrol of vampires arriving in the palace were having on the upper floor. His eyes shot open and he clamored up the stairs, ducking behind a pillar to hear.

"Ehhh? They harped on you for drinking human blood?" The one talking was a vampire Mika had seen before, one with purple hair tied back in a ponytail. "Reminds me of the time I drank this one little girl dry," he continued. "I thought I heard something under the bed too, but we were called back before I could do anything. But you were called out because of this new weaponry the humans were using to fight back? That sounds rough... It's hard to believe humans could stand up to us though, even with special weapons that allow them to..."

Their conversation grew farther away, and so focused on it, Mika didn't notice the presence behind him until it was too late.

"What are you doing here, Mika?"

As aware as Mika was of the blood coursing through the bodies of the children corralled in their designated area of Sanguinem, the vicious, inhuman auras of the vampires worried him more. Even so, among the vampires, the aura of the one behind him canceled out every other except maybe Krul's in sheer strength – most definitely in malice. Mika jumped as his back pressed against the pillar he'd been hiding behind, Ferid Bathory standing before him, his red eyes cast downward to find Mika's blue ones. After a moment of stunned silence, Mika managed to swallow the frog in his throat. "Wh-what's going on? On the surface, I mean?" He never let his gaze leave Ferid's.

Having no interest in a staring contest, Ferid turned his head toward the entrance hall, shoulders slightly shrugged. "Oh, they were just talking about their rounds in the outside world," he informed with his usual curly eloquence. "There've been humans running rampant through the streets with weapons called 'Cursed-Demon Gear' that allow them to fight vampires."

Mikaela glowered at the silver-haired vampire towering before him with his back still pressed against the pillar. His hands clenched tightly around the scabbard of his sword, contemplating unsheathing it.

Ferid saw Mikaela's hostility and tilted his head, giving that irritating cat-like grin of his. "What? Don't you believe me?"

"Why should I?" Mikaela snarled with more venom than he'd meant to – not that he regretted it.

Ferid sighed in disinterest, swapping one hand to the side as if to swap away Mika's long overdue rage. "Now that you're a vampire, I have no reason to keep things from you, Mika." He walked around the pillar, despite Mika's hostile intentions, toward where the other vampires had exited. Mikaela watched Ferid the entire time, jolting when he stopped, lifting a hand. "Oh, by the way, Mika," said Ferid. He turned around, grin deepening. "I heard from Krul that you haven't drank any human blood yet."

Finally, Mika broke eye contact with him, sword and hands retreating back to his sides. "It's none of your business."

"You're right, it isn't my business," Ferid agreed. "Not until you become a mindless demon and _I_ have to be the one to take you out. But," he said lightly, hands open and raised, "– and this is just food for thought – if you _were_ to drink the blood of a human, not only would you gain the power to go to the outside on your own, but you'd be free of our dear queen's dog leash."

 _Like how I was a dog on your leash all that time I let you drink my blood?!_ seethed Mika's conscience. "Why do you care?" was all he mumbled, glaring at Ferid again.

Ferid shrugged once more, turning back around. "Then you might be able to save your precious Yuu from whatever _scary_ things are chasing him around in the outside world, but c'est la vie~! What do I know, eh~?"

Mika gritted his teeth until his fangs cut his lips. _I don't want to hear that from you!_ he wanted to scream at Ferid, but he held his tongue as Ferid left through the doorway at the end of the spacious main hall, chuckling to himself. Blood trailed down Mikaela's lips and onto the floor. He still wasn't used to the pinpointed eyeteeth that cut into his lips with even the slightest wrong move, nor the taste of blood no longer being something he thought revulsive. Slowly, Mika lifted the palms of his hands to see them trembling with fear, his sword clattering in its scabbard. It was still much too big for him, but given his new godlike vampire strength and healing capabilities, he could lift it and bear the pain that accompanied. For a moment, Mika wondered if his shaking was an aftereffect of dealing with Ferid. With a sickened feeling settling in his gut, Mika realized, _I'm thirsty._

His head rested against his sword's scabbard as he sunk to the ground. He hated needing blood in order to stay sane, to stay alive. It made him understand what Ferid, Krul, what all of the vampires were doing to the livestock and the humans in the outside world.

 _What will Yuu do when... he finds out I'm one of them...?_ Mika asked, already panting with exhaustion. Quickly, he shook his head. _No, I can't dwell on what Yuu will think of me when he sees me as a vampire. I only must protect him from what's coming._

The war between the humans and the vampires was inevitable, what with tensions heating up at the borders of Shinjuku, Sanguinem, and just about every region in Japan that Mikaela had heard of. If the humans were making and using weapons against the vampires, then Yuichiro would certainly be with them...

Krul's words repeated in Mika's mind: _"If you can't at least maintain synchronization with your weapon, you'll never be of use to anyone. Now get up. Do it again. Whatever it takes."_ Using the hilt of his sword to balance himself, Mikaela stood. Until he was strong enough to find Yuu, he would do exactly as Krul said. No matter how many times it took, he would make sure his abilities were polished to perfection before he found Yuu again. _Even if he had to die in order to do so._

* * *

 **~A few weeks after the vampire apocalypse~**

* * *

 _"I'll be a good son!" he promised. "I'll make both of you proud! I swear!"_

 _"This is for the better," said a harsh voice._

 _"Kill him, dear!" shrieked a woman in the background. "Hurry up! Kill him! KILL HIM!"_

Yuu awoke in a gasping, sweaty mess, taking a moment to remember why he was in the darkness, sleeping beside a dozen other children. He closed his eyes. _Right... the apocalypse... the vampires..._ His parents couldn't touch him. They were probably dead now from the virus anyway. Laying himself back down on the bunk, a yawning voice rolled through the darkness from the spot beside him. "What's wrong, Yuu...?"

Yuichiro flinched. It was _that kid_ again. The one who acted like they were best buddies even though they'd only just met a few weeks ago. For whatever reason, Mika was always up whenever someone else couldn't sleep, – including Yuu, who had frequent nightmares about his parents. And every time, Mika would offer to console him like he did whenever one of the other littler kids was having an episode. "Nothing. I just had a bad dream," Yuu growled, hoping Mika hadn't noticed the hesitation in his voice. _I'm not going to let myself be comforted by the same idiot who called us "family" within five minutes of our first meeting,_ Yuu grumbled. _Especially not after he beat me up and made everyone else swarm me._ He glanced at the others sleeping beside them to keep from looking at Mikaela. Even in the dark, Mika's cerulean eyes were bright and curious as they fixed upon Yuu. Quite unnerving.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Mika asked.

" _I_ _said_ it was just a bad dream," Yuu snapped again, yanking his blanket up to his chin.

Mika pouted at Yuu's answer. "You know, Yuu, everyone here has something they don't really want to talk about –"

"Well I'm not like 'everyone here,'" Yuu interrupted, matter-of-fact. "Unlike you guys, who were so young you didn't even understand what was happening, I can't turn a blind eye to what my parents did." Remembering the dream, Yuu couldn't hide the terror from his expression or his voice. "It still... bothers me..."

When Mika didn't reply, Yuu figured he'd probably said something wrong and looked for confirmation that Mika now hated him. Lifted from the top of the bunk and propped on both elbows, the only thing Yuu saw in Mika's eyes was concern. "I'm sorry, Yuu," he murmured. "I'm sorry if you think we're insensitive about that stuff. We just don't like to talk about it all the time."

When Yuu opened his mouth to retort, Mika hurriedly continued, "But you're right about that." He leaned a little closer to Yuichiro with a hand cupped around his mouth, speaking softer. "Most of the kids here were too young to really understand what was happening when they were with their families." Mika smiled at him sadly. "Unlike you, who just recently experienced it."

Though Yuichiro couldn't fathom why, Mika's concerned expression made him angry. He wasn't actually _buying_ this clown's act of worry, was he?! "It's not like you know anything about it either!" Yuu spat, flushing in irritation. He flipped around from Mika to face the wall. Immediately he felt bad for saying it. He knew that Mika used to be abused by his parents, even if he'd only mentioned it once – right after he'd beaten Yuu senseless, in fact. The fact that Mika only showed that stupid grin all the time got on Yuu's nerves and made him forget, made them all forget. Mika was not the angelic pretty-boy he pretended to be. He was the most dubious of them there. But also the most practical.

A chin and a pair of hands crept over Yuu's back and shoulder until Mika was leaning over him completely, stunning Yuu. Innocently, Mika asked, "Why do you think that?"

"You're just like them," said Yuu, trying to shake him off. His cheeks lit with embarrassment and surprise that Mika sounded more inquisitive than hurt, Mika's head sitting atop Yuu's turned shoulder. "You never let it get to you and always smile like that! I'll never understand you guys!" Yuu kept struggling to get Mika off of him, – pushing his face away, trying to pry his hands off his arm, – until he realized it was pointless unless he wanted to start a quarrel that would probably end up waking up _everybody_.

While Mika snickered at Yuu's failed defiance, Yuu fell limp and silent. If he was completely honest with himself, Yuu envied the kids from Hyakuya for being able to look past the bad times in their pasts. He wished he could just move on as well, only living in the present. "You think I'm just a crybaby for letting my parents get to me, don't you?" said Yuu suddenly. This startled Mika, who stopped snickering and froze in trying to pin Yuu to the floor.

"Huh?"

"You think that I'm stupid for letting horrible people like that to get to me," Yuu murmured, unmoving. "But no matter what I do, I can't forgive or forget what my parents did... I can't make their enraged faces _as they tried to kill me_ go away." Yuu hissed the words without restraint.

"No one said anything like that, Yuu," Mika whispered, wide-eyed and above him.

"Of course not," said Yuu, looking at Mika, "but I know it's what you're all thinking. I know you're just putting up with me because you feel like you ha –"

Mika's hands grabbed Yuu's shoulders and pulled him up so that they were sitting up and facing each other. The look of sincerity in Mika's face froze Yuichiro in place. "Yuu, why do you think we don't like you?" Mika asked. Something about his tone was different from before. Mika wasn't using the light, cheerful Mika tone that he usually did. His expression was entirely earnest, devoid of any of the jokes or pity he used to comfort the other kids.

"I-it's obvious, isn't it?!" Yuu stammered loudly, caught off-guard by Mika's expression. "Anyone would get tired of a whiny brat who acts like he's higher than anyone else here!"

"That's not how you act," said Mika, shaking his head.

"Yeah it is!"

Mika opened his mouth to reply, but another voice piped up from behind Yuichiro, making both of them spin around and Mika's hands fall back to his blankets. "Big brother Yuu isn't whiny!" said one of the younger boys, sitting up and grinning at them with an incomplete, yet toothy grin.

"That's right! He'll beat up the vampires for us!" Akane chimed in, smiling warmly.

Yuu shook his head, trying to cut in. "Guys, w-wait a minute –!"

"Yeah!" agreed the younger boy.

"Big brother Yuu!" more of them chanted.

Yuichiro felt his cheeks growing hot with embarrassment. "H-hey! You were all supposed to be asleep –!"

Behind him, Mika's laugh cut Yuu off. When Yuu turned around, he saw the sincerity written across Mika's face from the gesture as he grinned at Yuu. "Just because Yuu is a little hot-headed at times, that doesn't mean we don't like him," said Mika. For once, Mika's grin didn't make Yuu want to smash his face in, and it wasn't Mika's usual carefree grin. It was one that Yuu had never seen before. And slowly, surely, an invasive and airy balloon erupted in Yuu's gut. When Mika's bright, cerulean eyes stared him, it sent a rush of happiness through his body that he didn't quite understand. However, right after, Mikaela said, "Don't you forget that," and the idyllic memory fractured and shattered into a million pieces in Yuu's mind, because Mika's happiness was only an illusion, just as Asuramaru had said.

* * *

 **~Roughly seven years later~**

* * *

Mika cursed at the memories that were of no use to him on the battlefield. And he cursed himself for allowing the humans to catch him off guard, forcing Ferid to assist him. "Is it me, or have you gotten faster?" their leader asked, the corner of his mouth twitched up in a sly grin.

"I decided to stop holding back," Mikaela answered, nonchalant. He was already calculating an opening from which to attack the human with.

"Holding back in battle?" remarked the Colonel with a laugh, despite barely being able to stand, sword trembling in his hands. "Aren't you the naïve little brat."

"That 'little brat' is about to kill you," Mika replied. He knocked the sword out of the human's hand with ease, disturbing his balance until he fell onto the ground. _I've trained years for this, human,_ Mikaela thought. Day after day, he went through agony to perfect any possible weakness he could have, until he was as powerful as vampires who were hundreds, maybe thousands of years older than him. The petty disputes of one meager human would not hinder his progress now. No way in hell.

In the face of the hopelessness of his situation, the human on the ground before Mikaela chuckled. "Well damn." Mika could tell he understood he was finished by the faded look in his violet eyes.

"Hmm? I spy enemy reinforcements coming," Ferid said somewhere behind Mikaela. "I'd hurry up and kill him if I were you, Mika."

"Hmph. You die here, human," said Mika, readying his sword for the final blow.

The human's face flashed with one last look of spite before submitting to death. "Screw you," he said, as Mikaela drove the sword into the human's chest.

The outside world wasn't paradise.

Yuichiro was all too aware of that fact the moment he found himself outside of the vampire city for the first time, covered in the blood of his best friend and frostbite, only to come to a wasteland.

Yuu knew that luxuries like the obliviousness they had felt in the vampire city were no longer possible, nor was the idea of people he once thought to be his "family," to be replaced by another who were taken from him again.

Yet... he'd found friends that he would do anything to protect.

But something was terribly amiss.

The officer that had taken Yuu under his wing, Guren Ichinose, was in grave danger. Once again, it was a vampire that stood before Yuichiro, threatening to steal what little sense of importance and hospitality he had in four years. Yuu was screaming, – " _WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO GUREN?!_ "– screaming so loud that he wondered if his throat was about to burst, but he didn't care. That inhuman screaming was the last thing Mikaela heard before everything else melted away in his memory, only onto Yuu, who was running toward him with all the speed in the world. Without hesitation Yuichiro's sword drove straight into Mikaela's chest, about to activate his weapon when he felt Mikaela's eyes on him. Yuu decided to glare at the vampire responsible for Guren's condition one last time before condemning him to an eternal life in hell, uttering the same thing he had to the last vampire who harmed someone precious to him: " _Die, bloodsucker_!" But the words were barely out of his mouth when Yuu found that the eyes locked onto his were bright and blue like the stare of his long deceased best friend, Mikaela Hyakuya.

"Huh –?"

"Y... Yuu..."

The terrible heat of hatred and war had occupied the space around them. Now, chillingly, the entire world stood still.

* * *

 **I've been up in knots trying to figure out how to make this and the next chapter work, but I think I've finally figured it out! I hope you enjoy the canon moments as well as all the (hopefully) juicy flashbacks!**

 **I'm still a mess over chapter 36 and needed to write something MikaYuu-related, but couldn't think of anything more perfect to outdo that chapter, oh my gosh. For those of you who have already read it... I'm sure you understand. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I hope it went well... Please be sure to tell me what you thought!**


	5. To Save You

**Summary:** Reunion of childhood friends. Memories follow, along with their promise to each other – yet years of secrecy remain hidden, but not forgotten.

* * *

 **To** **Save You**

* * *

"No..."

Yuichiro's mind was trapped in a blurry daze. Yuu wondered if he was imagining it: the ruffled blond hair and curious sky-blue eyes mere inches from his face. He wondered if the person before him was only a figment of his imagination, a mirage effect from the drugs Shinoa had given them, maybe?

But no... the vampire he stabbed moments before could be none other than the friend he had lost and left behind four years ago. The rational part of him refused to believe such a miracle was possible. But in his heart Yuu knew it was true, rendering him unable to utter a single word.

Time had frozen. If the person before him _was_ Mikaela, what should he say?! What _could_ he say to the best friend he had left alone to fend off the vampires by himself four years ago...?

"Yuu," Mikaela whispered again, tying Yuu's heartstrings into knots that dangled in his throat, silencing him even further. Mika said Yuu's name exactly like when they were kids – he could be no one else. Their startled gazes remained transfixed upon each other in spite of the stabbing pain in Mikaela's chest, the heat of the scene around them even in the brusque autumn noon. Small gasps of warmth grazed each other's faces, both unable to believe. In Yuu's brilliant green eyes was a light that left Mikaela breathless, the very light he wanted to save years ago, even until now... Back then, it was the passionate gleam in Yuu's vibrant eyes that had saved him.

Conversely, in Mikaela's cerulean eyes, Yuu was reminded of the hope he'd clung to in the vampire city, a hope that him and Mikaela would see the light of day again, and the beautiful blue sky up above their heads...

* * *

 **~A week before the failed escape~**

* * *

Mikaela sat up and rubbed his droopy eyes, glanced around at the others in the dark. Soaking up their cute expressions, – all tangled in blankets and huddled against each other in the darkness, sleeping soundly, – a smile crept slowly across his cheeks, lightening the sleepiness in his face.

A jolt of terror swept over Mika and his smile faded. At first he didn't understand why, reaching up to tug on the blond locks near his eyes, when he discovered the root of the throbbing terror blossoming in his chest. _Oh..._ His hands fell back to his blankets. He'd been dreaming about them. His family. That is, the people who once pretended to be his family... The parents that constantly had told him what an annoying brat he was, throwing him against walls for being "in the way," pounding him into the ground when he tried to defend himself.

All he remembered from the dream was that his parents were angrier at him than ever before – that, with a hand curled around his neck, his father held him against the wall, a butcher knife gleaming in the other. He'd threatened to use the knife on Mika's shoulder if he didn't stop crying, and though Mika had tried to keep his moans of discomfort from escaping him, the hand around his throat forced choked sobs to rise up and out of his mouth no matter how hard he endeavored to swallow them. Behind them, his mother had shaken her head in disgust, returning Mika's teary eyes with a cold expression. _"Make him shut up already,"_ she ordered, crossing her arms. _"I can't take this anymore. Make him shut up before the neighbors hear us and call the cops."_ The knife had inched closer and closer to Mika, and though he tried to squirm out of the way, it pierced him in the shoulder.

He hadn't cried out. The sound would have only made the punishment worse, but the pain was what had awoken him.

Mikaela didn't usually think about his previous "family," the parents that had haphazardly tossed their own child out of a car's window while on a freeway, nor had he felt anything at their departure from his life. Only that it had been a strange transition from a place like that to the Hyakuya Orphanage. Until now, in Sanguinem... yeah, the vampire city was definitely much better than being with his parents.

Mika turned toward the other 12-year-old boy in the Hyakuya Orphanage, who was gasping slightly in his sleep. _Is Yuu having a dream about his previous family too...?_ The sound of Yuu's frightened pleas in the middle of the night often awoke Mika, who slept very lightly due to his conditions in the past. Now, Yuu was mumbling at the phantoms in his head to please stop, saying he would do his best to be a better son, saying he would do anything that they asked... Unlike Mikaela's parents, who never paid him any mind from he moment he was born, Yuu's parents left a loving impression before casting him aside, – perhaps nothing more than a pretense, though Mika didn't know, – and as a result, Yuu was unable to shake the thought of them.

Yuu had denied Mika's attention when he was going through one of his panic episodes at first. It hadn't been long before Mikaela was able to crumble the brave front Yuu put on with a little teasing to make him flustered – flustered enough to forget his bravado. Only once all of the others were asleep – except for maybe Akane...

Before he could relive the memory, the grin on Mika's face vanished a second time. Now that Mika had been coming back late from Ferid's mansion, Yuu still waited up for him most nights, all alone...

"St... stop...!" Yuu mumbled suddenly. Mika saw Yuu's hands tighten around his blankets, legs drawing up closer into his chest. "I..." Then he started yelling out incoherent things, gasping much louder than before as if the breath was knocked out of him, tossing and turning under his blankets.

Grabbing Yuu's shoulders, Mika shook him before he could awake the others. "Yuu, wake up! It's not real! Yuu! Yuu!"

Yuichiro continued to yell and push against Mika's grasp until he finally opened his eyes and realized it was a dream. "Ah?! Wha –?!" His head turned all around the tight space between the bunkbed and the ceiling, completely lost.

"You were yelling things and thrashing around in your sleep, Yuu," Mika whispered to answer to the lost confusion in Yuu's face. "It was another nightmare about your parents, wasn't it?"

Yuu blinked around the darkness until he seemed to remember why he was there. He shoved Mika's arms off of him. "I'm fine," he growled.

"You sure? You don't need me to help you fall asleep?" Mika asked with a patronizing concern.

"Look who's talking," said Yuu harshly, hoping Mika could see his glare even in the dark.

Mika recoiled. "Huh?"

"Mister likes-to-keep-secrets-all-the-time. You're never here anymore." Though Yuu tried to spit it at Mika with an angry scowl, a somber fringe slipped over his voice.

"C'mon, Yuu~" Mika sang, crawling closer to him. "You sure you don't need my _wonderful_ singing voice to _soothe_ you into a deep slumber~?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," said Yuu, lowering himself back onto the bunk. Mika's mischievous eyes lingered on him a little longer, until he decided not to push the matter further. Ever since Mika had started disappearing night after night without a single word, – only a good meal or trinkets to give the other kids in his wake, – an unspoken chip had formed between them – as if both of them felt something had changed but neither wanted to address it, hoping the truth would out in due time.

Months later, that still wasn't true.

After a few minutes with his eyes closed and only seeing his father's enraged face as he tried to murder him, Yuu decided that he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't care if he was being pathetic or what Mika would tease him with later; he just wanted to feel another warm body beside his to distract him from the images roiling through his mind and leaving carnage wherever they went. Yuu turned around and wrapped his arms around Mika's chest, all the while his eyes closed. This shocked Mika, but he was accustomed to this routine and said nothing, only gave a covert grin of triumph as his arms hooked around the back of Yuu's head, drawing him closer. Hands twining in Yuu's hair, Mika hummed softly as they drifted to sleep, glad to have each other, despite everything that was wrong with their world.

Mika knew there was no better therapy than comforting another when he felt down, but the truth was, ever since Mika started disappearing every night, Yuu wasn't sure about anything anymore.

* * *

 **~The next day~**

* * *

"Don't move, humans," ordered a voice coming from the telecom in the blood farming building. "We're inserting the needles. They will pump from your neck until the blood farming is complete."

"Ah! Shit," Yuu cursed, the pain in his neck throbbing as the vampire guard who'd inserted his needle moved on to the next pair of kids. "Ow, ow, ow... Hey, are you okay, Mika?"

"Ah –" Mika squeaked, eyes shut tightly. He squirmed in his seat a little before answering in a level tone. "Yeah. Not matter how often it's done, I can't get used to this."

Yuu blew out a breath through his nose. "To top it off, it takes so long too."

"It really does."

Yuu clenched his fists in front of him, voice rising to a bellow. "One day I'll definitely kill those vampi –!"

Mika quickly reached across the space between them and clamped one hand around Yuu's mouth. "Wai –! Yuu! One of the guards is close by, so keep quiet," Mika whispered frantically, both of them cringing from the jerking movements of the needles in their necks.

Once the guard had passed, Yuu struggled until he successfully freed himself of Mika's tight grasp. "Leggo, Mika! Why do I have to keep quiet?!" said Yuu exasperatedly.

"Honestly... Obviously I'd be bothered if you got killed!" Mika snapped at him.

"Either way, they just ignore me no matter what I say, right?" Yuu sighed. "Totally looking down on us like we're livestock..."

Over the telecom, the vampire's voice said, "Blood draining is starting." The machinery to their left and right revved to life before either of them could say more, tearing through the tissue in their necks until crimson liquid began to suction through the tubes inserted in their collars and bubble in the glass cylinders of each station.

When Yuu let out a sharp cry followed by a series of pained grunts, Mika gasped weakly, "Yuu, are you all right?"

"Ah...!" After more pained noises, Yuu steeled himself and tried to sound heroic and manly when he answered. "It's nothing. I'm all right!"

"If you're okay then please don't make such an angry face," Mika said. "It really would be trouble if the vampires see you like that."

"I was born with this kind of face!" Yuu countered irritatedly.

"Jeez, that's not true," Mika whined. He leaned forward on his seat to catch Yuu's gaze. Both hazy from their loss of blood, Mika gave Yuu a look of such earnest that it made him notice. "Yuu, whenever you watch me, or Akane, or the kids, you make a fairly affectionate face."

"Do not!" Yuu answered repugnantly, crossing his arms and turning away momentarily to hide his embarrassment. "I'm already... you know!" he blurted. "Because of my hatred for vampires, right now I'll change into a demon and achieve victory!"

"Huh? What the hell?" Mika questioned, brow furrowing. "Basically... you're going to become a demon and kill the vampires?"

"Exactly!" said Yuu, nodding once.

"Vampires can also be called demons," Mika said slowly, thinking through Yuu's reasoning, "so saying that you'll even turn into a demon yourself... What kind of joke is that?" Mika asked him seriously.

"Eh?" Yuu's arms uncrossed and he stared at Mika, surprised to be proved wrong, opposite to his pompous claims. Looking straight ahead, Yuu tried to continue without doubt, "Well, th-that is –!"

Mika cut in, "Instead, that part of you that wouldn't suck blood, wouldn't that make you weak?"

"Why, you!" Yuu lashed out angrily, also defeatedly. "I didn't ask for your opinion!"

Mikaela giggled loudly at Yuu's exasperated tone and the small blush on his cheeks – even if both of them were growing paler by the second. "Ahaha! Honestly Yuu, you're an idiot as always!"

"I'm not an idiot!" Yuu rebuffed, crossing his arms with a grouchy grimace.

"But you were doing push-ups yesterday, right?" Mika asked, leaning toward him again. "How many times a day do you have to do those so that you can beat vampires again?"

"Naturally!" Yuu answered proudly, smirking and sticking his chin into the air. "And it's around ten-thousand a day –"

"You only managed eighty, right?" Mika interrupted, cocking his head with an inquisitive grin.

"If you counted then don't ask," Yuu muttered, pride immediately deflated.

Mika said, "Well, I was bored, so... But all the kids were watching you do push-ups and praising you, Yuu."

Yuichiro blinked at Mika in question. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Mika answered, "They said that if one day Yuu gets to ten thousand push-ups, your muscles will become _huuuge_ and then you'll defeat the vampires for us!" Mika's speech clogged, and his expression became something more serious as he grinned at Yuu. "Everyone was tearing up and believed in you..." he mumbled, gaze drifting to the side.

"You..." For a moment Yuu was completely taken by the sincerity in Mikaela's gaze – until Yuu saw the way the corners of his mouth twitched. "You're making fun of me, aren't you?"

Mika faced Yuu and smiled widely. "Yep!"

"What do you mean, 'Yep!'?!" Yuu burst, attempting to smack Mika on the shoulder, reaching over the space between them.

"Hey, you shouldn't push it," Mika said, moving out of the path of Yuu's fist and instead grabbing his arm. "If the tube in your neck gets removed, you'll be killed. And anyone who tries to run gets executed. Yuu, you know that, right?" Now the concern on Mika's face was only mocking as he stared at Yuu. It was true, though.

"Damn it!" Yuu yelled. "Ahh, jeez! I'll definitely kill these vampires someday!"

"Honestly, that's all you ever say, Yuu," Mika sighed, letting go of Yuu's arm. He added in a softer voice, this time without jubilance, "Though if you were actually able to one day, that'd be nice."

Yuu raised both fists in the air, giving Mikaela a grin inlaid purely with determination. "I'll definitely do it! Just watch me!"

A small smile broke across Mika's face. "Will you really?"

"Giving up just means we'd die here after all," said Yuu.

Mika hesitated. "Well, that's true, but..." _But trying to escape would be..._

"But if that happened..." Yuu continued in contradiction to Mika's thoughts, "if it happened..."

"Hm? If it happened?" Mika urged, watching Yuu, sensing something else in his voice.

With Mika's cerulean eyes fixed on him, Yuu used a voice as blunt as possible as he said, "If it happened... if we gave up on finding a way to escape... those brats from the orphanage... those stupid brats... they'd only just ever spend their entire life seeing this shitty place, right?"

For a moment, the shock on Mika's face made him look genuinely moved. Then a knowing sneer crept across his cheeks. "Ah!"

"What's with that face?" Yuu asked, raising his eyebrows at Mika.

"Heehee~! It's just – after all, Yuu is..." Mika's sneer turned into a curly smile. "I was just thinking it'd be impossible for you to become a demon."

"Huh?!" Yuu said loudly. "What's that supposed to mean, are you making fun of me again?!"

"No, I'm not," said Mika, smiling to himself and facing ahead. "It's just, you're considerate, Yuu..."

"I'm not considerate," Yuu pouted at him, bothered that Mika was keeping something to himself.

Mika inputted, "And even though you're an idiot, you seriously think about your family."

Yuu grumbled, "What's the 'even though you're an idiot' for?"

"Ah haha!" Mika laughed at Yuu's expression. "But... you're right," he agreed, something turning in his head. "Yeah, things can't stay this way. This is... But in that case... what can we do...?" Mika knew exactly what they could do, – what he could do, alone, while at Ferid's mansion, – but of course he wouldn't tell Yuichiro of his thinking. Yuu didn't need something else on his mind with all the nightmares and the other kids, his hatred for the vampires... This was something Mika had to do on his own, just like on the night Mika had dragged him away from death's door. Yuu had to be the one to kill the vampires, not fall under their mercy, and the others wouldn't understand. No one else could know.

Yuu stared at him. "Hm?"

Mikaela shook his head, smiling brightly at Yuu. "Mm, it's nothing! Ah, by the way, Yuu... what's your favorite food?" he asked, tilting his head toward Yuu.

"Why're you asking all of a sudden?" mumbled Yuu.

"Well, I was just wondering what kind of thing you liked while we were still on the surface," said Mika.

As Yuu pondered, his eyes flicked around the hall of vampires and children at blood draining stations. Then it came to mind. "Uhhh... I wonder... curry, I guess?"

"Heheh, you're so childish!" Mika teased.

"Then what do you like?" Yuu rebuked with an ironic chuckle.

Bringing a finger to his chin, Mika thought on it. "Hmm? Let's see... aah... curry, as well?"

Yuu grinned widely. "You're so childish~"

Mika giggled embarrassedly. "Eh heheh! You're right!"

* * *

 **~That night~**

* * *

The guards knew to let Mika through when he came to gate of the vampires' residential area now, by order of the Seventh Progenitor. Their red, piercing eyes on his back were unsettlingly chilling, though Mika had done this many times by now. Once through the front entrance door, Mika let out a breath. _Okay, time to be an obedient little livestock._ He called out in a buoyant voice, "Lord Ferid? Lord Ferid! It's Mikaela! I've come over today as well!" Mika went toward the den and halted when he heard voices in the room opposite.

"That your newest pet?" asked a voice Mika didn't recognize.

"Yep. You should try at least a bite," said Ferid.

Mikaela stepped back, shivered. Two vampires drinking from him at the same time? To his relief, the other vampire said, "No thanks," before Mikaela could decide whether or not to make a run for it. He moved back into the foyer and waited. Ferid and the other vampire – a tall male with red hair and a large build – came to the front.

"Now, good job, take care on the way back," said Ferid in a dismissive manner. Then his ruby eyes turned upon Mika, spreading his arms. "In any case... Mika! You came!"

"Honestly," the other vampire tsked as Mika stepped forward. "Well, I'll be going now." He walked over the threshold of the doorway and out. Mika and Ferid waited until the door slammed shut behind him.

Turning toward him, Mika said gratefully, "Lord Ferid, thank you for today too."

"My, my, Mikaela. Thanks to you too," said Ferid, a hand on his hip. The other lifted to his chin, contemplatively, as if sizing Mika up. "By the way, did you make good use of the food I gave you before?"

"Yes, it was delicious!" Mika answered. He'd long gotten used to the desire in the vampire's eyes; it was something he could handle and use to cull Ferid's favor to whatever he wished. The cuter Mika acted, the easier Ferid was willing to let him have whatever he wanted – and with an escape plan sprouting up in his mind, he needed Ferid to like him more than ever.

"Mm, that's good to hear!" Ferid exclaimed. "The more good food you eat, the more delicious your blood gets, so I'm also quite happy."

"...Yeah," Mika averred.

Suddenly, with a snap of his fingers, Ferid asked, "Speaking of, you surely have other friends where you are from, don't you?"

The turn in the conversation startled Mikaela, but he managed to answer fairly steadily. "No, um... I'm sorry. My other friends are scared of you..."

A hand flying to his chest, Ferid said with feigned harmed self-pride, "Scared? Of me? Even though they're so grown-up?"

"Ah, y-yes. I'm sorry..." said Mika, watching him with innocent eyes.

"No need to apologize," Ferid said coyly. He led the way into the den.

"Ah, but due to that I'll eat lots and do my best!" Mika said as they walked.

"There's really no need for you to try so hard," Ferid assured, a smirk in his voice. He seated himself delicately on one of the the red-velvet couches in the den, then leaned forward. "After all, I'm fine with only drinking a little bit. Living in this underground city and having the blood drained out of them, it must be rough for humans? You should make a few happy memories, hm~?"

"Thanks to Lord Ferid's compassion, we're happy," Mika said, sitting beside him.

"Hm! Now then, I wonder what it is you would like today?" Ferid asked, watching Mika with his ruby eyes that reflected nearly every shiny surface in the den – which was full of a lot of vases, shiny tabletops, and other knickknacks, mind you.

Avoiding those eyes, Mika said, "Ah, on that topic, um, the ingredients for curry..."

"Curry? That is human food, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you like curry?" Ferid asked.

"Yes! I like it."

"I see. Then the next time you come I'll have the ingredients ready. It'll be better if you can make a lot," said Ferid.

"Thank you very much!" Mika called.

Ferid's grin deepened until it became a sneer that shadowed his features, matching those of the gothic accessories in the room. "Well, now that I've heard what you wanted, shall I drink your blood...? Come here."

"Ah..." Now for the hardest part. The thirst in Ferid's eyes was palpable in the air between them, and something told Mikaela that it wasn't like before. He couldn't place what though, and had no time to figure it out as he scooted closer to the vampire, his back facing Ferid.

As Ferid leaned forward, he whispered in a soft, commanding voice, "Bare your neck."

"Mm... okay." Whatever was different about Ferid now reminded Mika faintly of when he'd first gone to him for help... but Ferid hadn't gone overboard then, so he shouldn't now. Mika unclipped the top of his livestock uniform and pulled down the left shoulder until his collarbone was exposed.

"Don't be nervous, it's okay. Since I won't drink from you until you're dead," Ferid assured coolly, pulling off his gloves, but Mikaela was overtaken by waves of shivers as Ferid stroked Mikaela's shoulder with his cold, cold hands, his sharp nails grazing Mikaela's skin. "And you'll get to have anything you want when you get back... okay?" Ferid's nails punctured the skin on Mika's arm and shoulder enough to draw blood when Ferid rested his hands on him to hold him steady.

Mika's gut tightened, Ferid's breath on his shoulder, long silver hair tickling his neck. "Y... yes," he murmured. _Deep breaths, this is for a reason,_ Mika chastised for allowing fear to suddenly overtake him and forced himself to still. He was used to this by now. He had to be. "Thank you very much."

"Now then..." Ferid shifted Mika in his grasp, spreading his jaws as he called, "Thanks for the meal~!" Already roused by the blood dripping from his nails, Ferid bit down ravenously into Mikaela's flesh, tearing hungrily through arteries and tissue.

Mika always forgot what it was like, having a vampire drink directly from him versus from the tube machines in the blood farming building. Feeling Ferid's frosty lips and sharp fangs against his neck was the perfect wake-up call to remind him of what these creatures are: monsters, nothing more than blood-suckers looking to snuff out the life of those deemed weaker than them, like Yuu always said...

"Aah...!" Ferid gasped in delight. "How was it?" he asked, licking away the blood that dripping from his chin as Mika held the wound on his shoulder. "It really does hurt when your blood is being sucked, doesn't it?"

"...No. I'm fine," Mika mumbled. However, Ferid had done a number to the skin on his shoulder, which ached with the slightest touch or movement. Just like in his dream last night, he'd barely made a sound, though he'd gotten close to crying.

"Oh? What a good boy you are," Ferid praised.

"Thank you very much," Mika said, though his voice was wobbly. When the ground seemed to sway below the couch, Mika wondered if Ferid had taken more than usual, and on the same day as the blood farming... The only other time he'd done that when Yuu was sick, he passed out. Stars were splashing in and out on the edges of his vision, but he remained conscious.

"Hm?" Ferid noticed Mika's unsteadiness as he leaned back on the couch in a heap of grey robes and ribbons. "Hm... By the way, hey, Mika. I have a little question for you."

"A question?" Mika asked. He didn't feel like this was the time for anything, being he was all but tipsy with the amount of blood taken from him, but... _If I'm going to get anywhere alone in Ferid's mansion so I can search for something to point us out of the city, I need to continue to stay in his favor._ "What is it?"

Ferid watched Mika with a dark glint in his eyes. "Why is it that you live?"

Mika wasn't sure he'd heard Ferid's question correctly and blinked in the dim light fading in his drunken vision. "Eh?"

"The meaning of life," Ferid said. "I've lived for far too long, so I've forgotten what it means to live. So that's why I wanted to try asking... Why is it that you live?"

Mika stumbled, averting his gaze from Ferid's, still clutching his bleeding shoulder. "Um, that's..."

Ferid cocked his head to one side. "When you go as far as having your blood sucked out, why do you live?"

"I-I..." Mika knew the answer. Unequivocally, it was for his family, the other kids from the Hyakuya Orphanage, for... for Yuu, who had no one else. _But,_ spoke Mika's internalized thoughts, _if Lord Ferid knew that..._

Ferid had been acting... strange all night. Mika didn't want to tempt the new desire in Ferid's eyes, whatever it may be.

Ferid pressed, a grin like that of a hungry cat before a cornered mouse spread over his face, "It can't be, it's not for curry, right?" His ruby eyes danced with merriment.

Mika searched for something to say. All he could think to do was play the cute and innocent card. "I'm... that's... since I'm still a kid, something that complicated is –"

"You don't know?" Ferid inquired.

"Yeah," said Mika, finally able to catch and hold Ferid's gaze.

Ferid let out a loud chuckle of amusement, throwing his head back on the couch. "Ha! That's not true. Even though still you don't notice it, your spirit is shining yet," he said, pointing one finger at the paled and afraid Mikaela. "So, I'm jealous of that..." Ferid lowered his hand. In a quieter voice, almost inaudible next to Mika's quickened respiration: "And if I use just a little power, that light would quickly be extinguished..."

Mikaela felt shift in Ferid's tone and position beside him on the couch. All the hairs on Mika's body stood on end, his animalistic instincts urging him to _run, run, run_. "L... Lord Ferid?"

As suddenly as it had come, Ferid smirked and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. The danger in the air disappeared. "...Just kidding," he whispered. Abruptly, Ferid stood from the couch, as if nothing happened. "Alright, we're done for today. My thanks."

Ferid's tone was crisp and apathetic. "...Ah... yes... then, I should go?" Mika asked uncertainly. He still wasn't recovered from having his blood taken, – and usually he was allowed to stay until he felt steady enough to walk back, – however if Ferid insisted, especially now, Mika didn't dare test him.

"Yep, feel free," said Ferid, though Mika knew that staying until he was ready to go back had been a courtesy before. Ferid saw Mika to the door and opening it for him, ushering him out with a hand on his back. "Come back again next week. I'll have the curry ingredients ready then."

"Ah, okay!" Mika called, bowing to him. As the front door closed, Mika stumbled at the gate, holding his shoulder the entire way. His other hand clung loftily to the wall. By the time he got back to the shelter, the bleeding had stopped, though he'd collapsed in Yuu's arms. And that was the first time Yuu truly realized that something was wrong, seeing how weak Mika was – so much that Mika broke down enough to talk about the previous "family" he'd cast aside, who once pretended to love him.

Of course, now Mika knows the only family he loves is Yuu...

* * *

 **~A week after the battle for Shinjuku~**

* * *

Dust lined shelves and deserted aisles of books in the disappearing light of evening. There wasn't a single soul in the library. Except Yuichiro, recently admitted from the hospital. His green eyes flicked over the words on the page until he was forced to stop and scrutinize one. Then another. And another... "More Kanji that I don't recognize," Yuu mumbled. He shut the book and threw his head back, staring at the shadows forming over the ceiling and walls. Bright blue eyes surrounded by the red of war flashed in Yuu's mind. _"Abandon everything and run away with me!"_

Now that he knew Mika was alive, Yuu had to find a way to turn him back into a human. Mika had been serious about his offer... but accepting something like that so suddenly was...

"Man, I suck at this," said Yuu – referring to more than just his reading skills. _For over four years, while Mika and I were having our blood sucked out of us, he didn't complain even once. Since he was the leader, he always smiled for everyone... but he was being driven into a corner. Which is why, unlike an idiot like me, he went to that noble in order to truly get us out of that world ruled by vampires..._

 _Whether that was the right or wrong thing to do... even now, I just don't know. From the start, Mika was the type of person who already knew the meaning or reason behind living... it was family... He lived for the sake of his family. For us orphans who had been abandoned once before and had lost our reason to live, it was all we had... That vampire noble bastard already knew that... That's why Mika... why Ferid..._

 _"Aha~ I was waiting for you, pathetic little lambs. How nice, that despairing expression... that's the expression I like to see the most."_

 _"Y-Yuu... Yuu, even if it's only you, run!"_

 _"Aha! Mikaela dear, your blood was sure tasty~ Thanks for the meal."_

 _"MIKA!"_

Yuu trembled at the memories replaying in his mind; never changing, never ceasing. And here he was again, entirely unscathed after the battle, saved by someone else while Mika was still trapped with the vampires...

"That's what I'm saying, Yuichiro," stated Asuramaru's cerebral voice, "you say you care about him, but then you're always the only one who gets out without a scratch even though you go charging in first without any thought."

"I thought I left you back at my sleeping quarters," Yuu grumbled at the voice of the demon inside his head.

"I may reside in the sword, but we still have a cerebral connection, Yuu," Asuramaru explained. Yuu could sense the demon sticking his tongue out at him all the way from his humble abode within the sword.

Yuu scowled at the voice, standing and stretching from the place he'd been sitting reading for over three hours. He placed the book back on the shelf where he'd found it, remaining in place. A smile lit his face. "Thanks to you, though... I think I understand now, Asuramaru. Why Mika hid things from me, sacrificed himself for me... Why he told me to run and leave him behind, even though family is what matters most..." _Why I'm still here... alive,_ Yuu didn't say aloud, though he was sure Asuramaru heard him anyway. It was why, when Yuu had awoken in the hospital, he'd expressed his gratitude to his new family, – to Yoichi, Shinoa, Kimizuki, and Mitsuba, who'd stuck with him despite his antics, – why he would try harder than ever to reclaim Mika from the vampires...

Asuramaru waited for Yuu's answer. "Hm?"

Yuu didn't pay Asuramaru's inquiry any mind. It wasn't something he needed to say in order to know. _"Because I didn't know what 'love' was supposed to look and act like. Even after I was brought to the Hyakuya Orphanage and Akane and the others, I still didn't know. Not until..."_

Trudging through shelves and books lined on the floor, Yuu stopped at the window, a hand on the glass, gaze to the stars appearing up above. _Mika, no matter what... I will certainly save you..._

It wasn't only from the vampires that Yuichiro meant.

No... it was from himself.

* * *

 **The two primary scenes in this chapter are from the drama CDs for anyone who recognized them~ I guess you could say that the first "arc" of this story is complete, now onto the next arc of the fic! And, perhaps, you can tell that I was influenced greatly by chapter 37 of the manga that comes out... today, actually! (I've already read it and oh, the tears.)**

 **Thank you, again, for the support I've received from this story! It keeps me goin'! Please don't forget to tell me what you thought of the chapter below~**


	6. The Promise

**Summary:** Trapped with the vampires in Sanguinem given his new mission of finding Yuu, Mikaela starts to lose his sense of taste for Krul's blood. On the flip side, Yuu once again understands the true meaning of "family."

* * *

 **The Promise**

* * *

 _Damn,_ Mikaela blistered as he stormed to the lower levels of the vampire palace, clutching his bleeding hand, which showed no signs of healing. _Damn..._ Krul hadn't held back when he'd threatened her and demanded an explanation for what she planned to do with him and Yuu – piercing him with her nails, twisting his wrist. _Damn...!_ Mikaela was sure she had been honest about the reason she wanted to use them. So, that made Mika's job of protecting Yuu only that much harder.

The presence of Ferid Bathory peering around one of the pillars caused Mika to stop just in time, turn toward him.

"Hahaha~! I'm surprised you were able to recognize me that quickly," the vampire called. "Seeing as you're all but starved for blood, I would have guessed you to be half demon already."

"Shut up," Mika seethed, already set off by his conversation with Krul. He continued toward his quarters in the palace without waiting for a reply. "I don't have time to deal with the likes of you."

Ferid followed him in a smooth motion of grey robes, sighing airily. "My, my, it seems Lady Krul told you about your special mission while we attack the humans at Nagoya. So you're going to work harder than ever to protect your precious Yuu~?"

Mikaela's hand was still burning from Krul's sharp nails digging into his skin, but he didn't hesitate to spin around and take a swipe at Ferid in the process. However the silver-haired vampire caught Mika's arm and twisted it behind his back. With his iron grip, Ferid slowly twisted Mika's farther sideways, threatening to break it if disobedient.

In a dangerously calm voice, ruby eyes gleaming in the dim firelight of the deserted secondary hall, Ferid whispered, "Little brat, do you honestly think you can take me on? I _dare_ you to just try it."

Though Mika tried to pull away, he only to winced in pain as Ferid twisted his arm farther. He felt a shiver down his spine, one like he used to when at Ferid's mercy as a human child offering his blood with Ferid's breath trickling all down his neck.

Ferid grinned at him, face pressed into Mikaela's hair. "In fact, it was you who freaked out when I suggested we turn your precious angel into a vampire and said we had to leave without him, wasn't it?"

"Let go of me," Mika ordered in a steady voice, though his entire body still shivered and trembled from Ferid's overpowering presence.

"You laid your hands against me, and that's something I can't just easily forgive," Ferid continued, leaning closer still. "I've told you before. No matter how much you resist, I could extinguish your life so easily." Finally, he let go of Mikaela, pushed him into the wall. "You're to obey Lady Krul's orders and get little Yuichiro out of the way of our battle with the humans. That's all. Then we will come find you when the time is right. Is that clear?"

Mikaela glared at him.

"Look, I'm far past caring about whatever kind of grudge you hold against me. Right now you have to cooperate to save your last family member, and that's that. All right? Or do you need more incentive than that?"

Mikaela sensed the shift in Ferid's aura again: that his senses heightened and he fixated fully on Mikaela, shivering against the wall. Mika nodded.

"Good. Because one more step out of line could truly cost you." Ferid stepped toward him again, to which Mika jolted. Hand on Mika's chin, Ferid turned his head to whisper in Mikaela's ear, "You _and_ your precious Yuu." He swiftly stepped away and walked back down the hall from whence he'd come. Mika watched him. The moment Ferid's attention was far enough away, Mika fell to the ground in a heaping mess, holding his twice injured arm close to his chest, breathing rapidly in and out.

Such encounters with Ferid had been a common occurrence for years now, and Mika had thought he'd stopped the sadistic vampire from affecting him in this way. Perhaps he was riled up knowing he would be given the chance to see Yuu again, but...

Mika leaned his head against the wall, urging himself to breathe calmly again. _No... but I'll only be seeing him to keep him away from the humans and vampires for a time... If I am able to get far enough away from the vampires, I'll try to run away with him again, but..._

Already, he felt his thirst was returning. He was afraid.

 _After what I did to Krul..._

Afraid of what he might do... "Filthy vampire"? That was for sure...

 _If I keep this up, Yuu and I will..._

They wouldn't be able to escape together. Mikaela would be too dangerous to him, assuming Yuu didn't already hate him just for being a vampire...

Mika trembled at the thought. Shakily moved to wrap both arms around his chest, his hands on his shoulders. _It doesn't matter. I have to find him and get him away from all the greedy humans who are only pretending to be his friends. I can worry about what happens later after that... I just need to find him..._

Before he could stop himself, Mikaela croaked out a name to the empty hall, still trembling in his sorrow and in pain.

"Yuu... it hurts..."

* * *

 **~That night on the humans' side~**

* * *

 _His dreams consisted of something other than death this time._

 _He was young, his raven hair and green eyes as wild as ever, but wrapped snugly in a scarf, jacket, and mittens. He could see his own breath in the cold winter air, and the dark outlines of buildings all around him. Skyscrapers, like those in Tokyo City before the fall of humanity, cropped up all around him. It was nighttime, and he could see lights and the silhouettes of people high up in the buildings all around him; otherwise, not a soul in sight. The entire place was deserted other than the buildings and snow piling quietly on the ground._ _He looked around the empty streets full of vehicles, but not a single person was apparent in the gloom of the overcast sky._

 _Yuu tried the doors and windows of every building he came across, but they were all locked. When he banged on the door and asked to be let inside, the shadowy figures within seemed not to hear him at all._

 _Dragging his feet, nose runny, Yuu gave up. He walked into the park in the center of the city where he decided to take refuge for the night. He came across a bench and fell on it in an exhausted lump, rejected. Though he was bundled up tight, the cold had begun to take its toll, and he was feeling faint with the fever heat his body had worked up against the abrasive cold. The snow had covered every surface in sight with a ten-centimeter layer of white powder. Yuu shivered from the icy water that soaked his shoes, socks, and pants._

 _On the verge of keeling over and succumbing to a cold night of hypothermia, Yuu was awoken by a voice from beside him._

 _"...Are you lost?" asked a flowery voice._

 _"Uhm... I-I..." Yuu felt embarrassed saying that he had nowhere to go, that no one would accept him into their home even when he stood outside shivering and banging on their door for hours at a time. He turned away from the other boy in the park, but t_ _he blond seemed to understand. A smile spread across his lips._

 _"Hey, I don't have anywhere to go either... so do you want to stay here together?"_

 _Yuu didn't answer, so the blond took his silence as a yes. He brushed the layer snow off the bench and took the seat right next to Yuu. Then, without warning, he grabbed Yuu's arms and pulled him closer._

 _"H-hey!" Yuu protested, his face only becoming more flushed by the action. He didn't resist though, finding that the other kid was also quite steamy. Eventually, Yuu's shivering stopped and he felt the other kid relax beside him as well._

 _"I never caught your name," said the blond, watching the snow fall over the field before them._

 _"Yuichiro Hyakuya," he answered. "What about you?"_

 _"Hyakuya? How funny..."_

 _"What's so funny about it?!" Yuu demanded. He wanted to pull away from him to further his point, but it_ was _quite cold..._

 _The other boy faced Yuu with an ironic grin. "My last name is Hyakuya too!"_

 _"What...?" Yuu didn't have much time to question the matter, for then the cold disappeared along with the city and its dark light._ _The deserted park and all the snow was replaced by sunshine. Yuu no longer felt cold, only a calming kind of warmth. He knew it was a dream now, and he was no longer terrified in the slightest, even as Mikaela was pulled away from him._

 _"Don't worry, Mika," he called, though Mika was being pulled farther and farther from him. "I'll find you and make things right. I won't let you suffer any longer; I'll find a way to save you, from both the vampires and yourself!"_

 _The child-like vision of Mika smiled. "I'm counting on you then, Yuu."_

 _"I will! Just wait for me! I'll definitely...!"_

"...save you," Yuu mumbled, waking himself in the real world. He stared at the ceiling of his apartment in a daze, still occupied by the warm feeling given off from the dream.

When he sat up in bed, he sat motionless, looking out at the moon outside his balcony door. _Mika..._

* * *

 **~Some years ago~**

* * *

"Let's be honest here," said Ferid one day during Mikaela's sword training. "Why should you care so much about what happens to your last family member, little Yuichiro Hyakuya? Just because you were once human and you both lived here together? That's hard for me to believe, Mika; you're not that foolish. So why devote yourself entirely to protecting someone who doesn't even know you're still alive, someone who's probably forgotten entirely about you? No matter how much time passes, your desire to protect him only becomes stronger by the day."

Mikaela and the vampire guard he'd been training with stopped at their superior's inquiry.

"You never seem to deny that he means a lot to you," Ferid continued, a finger in the air. "I can't help but wonder if..." His gaze focused upon Mikaela, as if waiting for him to confirm or deny personally what Ferid was implying. Mikaela didn't make a move either way, only waited, so Ferid prompted, "If there's more to your devotion than just a child's ignorant dream of running away to a blissful reality."

Mika froze. A question like that had never been what he'd been expecting, not even from Ferid.

Ferid turned, faced Mika and the guard who looked quite unsure what he was supposed to do, caught between them during such an exchange. Ferid asked, "After the sacrifice of your humanity while trying to save your family, you barely mourned the others or even your own situation, yet you've continued to fret and fear what will happen when little Yuu finds out you're a vampire." Ferid threw his hands in the air. "Why, you've even resisted drinking human blood for him this long!"

Still Mikaela showed no reaction to Ferid's monologue.

Ferid's lips curled ever wider, his ruby eyes dead set on getting an answer. "My dear Mika, do you _love_ him?"

Mika answered quickly, "He's my family –"

"Yet you seem to set him apart from the others who died by my hand," Ferid countered back.

Mikaela's grip tightened on his sword and he willed himself not to let anger overwhelm his intentions by how uncaringly Ferid said it. "That's right. Yuu is last family member. He's the only one who's alive." Mika spoke in harsh gasps of breath, avoiding the gazes of Ferid and the guard. "The deaths of the others aren't going to be changed no matter what I do. But he's... still alive. So I have to do anything in my power to keep him from harm."

"You still haven't answered my question, Mika dear," Ferid sighed. "Do you love him romantically or not?"

Mika paused, barely felt himself say the next words. "...It doesn't matter how I feel. He's... all I have left... all I ever had to begin with..."

Ferid smiled. With his keen vampiric senses, he'd felt the rush in Mikaela's heartbeat as he said it. "All right, I think I have my answer. I was merely curious." He flipped his fingers toward the vampire guard. "Carry on."

* * *

 **~Nagoya~**

* * *

In the years following, Ferid took every chance to try to get a response out of Mikaela for his unannounced affections. At first, his attempts were quite unsuccessful. As the idea festered within Mika however, more and more Ferid was able to make him lose his cool, even if only slightly.

The question still pressed on Mikaela, more than ever with the dead woman soldier of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army, Aihara, behind him. She spoke as if she knew what Yuu meant to him, before requesting her own death.

Only another foolish human, and yet... _There'd been more to her than just deception..._ He shook himself of the thought. _No, all humans are greedy and selfish. Just like those pretending to be Yuu's friends... I have to get him back. I can't let them trick him and cause him more pain than they already have..._

The others never needed Mikaela the way Yuu had. The others never understood what it was that was so horrible about their situations. They seldom had nightmares about their past lives, being that child services picked up on the different forms of abuse their families had dealt out to them early enough before permanent damage was made. Often times, Yuu was the only Mikaela could relate to, and he was always happy to help Yuu through flashbacks about the past. It was what Mika had needed when he first arrived at the Hyakuya Orphanage too...

Over time, Mika had developed a fondness for Yuu more than anyone else. Though Yuu tried not to let it bother him and be cheerful and ignorant like the others, he couldn't get his parents out of his head. Mika had had less time with his parents than Yuu and he still felt horrible for the things they'd done and said to him.

The others had helped Mika understand what a family was meant to act and feel like, but the only one who had really helped Mika exercise that caring was Yuu...

He felt nothing for the vampires in the helicopter that flew with him to Lord Crowley's hideout. He felt nothing when he turned against them, nothing when they asked _Why?_ Only a sense of excitement at being able to progress in his purpose for living. As long as Yuu needed him, Mika wouldn't disappear just yet.

* * *

 **Sorry this chapter took a while and it's not even that long! I hope it was worth the wait; I was having a lot of trouble trying to figure out what to do next, and I've been quite busy!**

 **Also, admittedly I have been writing this other MikaYuu fic in the meantime. It's an AU and my first try at developing romance between two characters, so I would really appreciate any and all who check it out and give me feedback! If you're interested, look for "Ebony & Ivory" on my home page~**

 **Please don't forget to tell me what you thought of the chapter, and I'll try to get chapter 7 out as soon as I can~**

 **Happy Thanksgiving!**


	7. Understanding

**Summary:** Yuichiro has lost and found a family twice now. He's not going to lose it again.

* * *

 **Understanding**

* * *

Mika lunged at Yuichiro in a frenzy, blue eyes sharp, voice shrill and hoarse. " _It hurts! It hurts so bad! I can't take it anymore! Let me suck your blood!_ "

Yuu could barely comprehend what was happening as Mika cried out in agony, having been knocked over by him. Such a mutilated sound and haggard movements came from Yuu's childhood friend, his hands over his face, nothing like the soothing image Yuu had had in his mind all these years. Mika's shrieks rang through the abandoned storehouse Yuu had awoken in, surprised to be off of the battlefield and in the presence of the one he had been searching for.

Mika was in front of him, though he was not the Mika that Yuu remembered. Yet he couldn't be more like him.

It wasn't how Yuu pictured their second meeting. He'd thought they would find each other by accident on the battlefield once again, and Yuu would demand Mika come back with him to Shinjuku. Mika would likely protest but Yuu would persist.

That was what he'd expected.

Instead, he'd wound up alone with Mika, who was in pain and not himself.

Mika was a vampire. Yuu knew Mika would never want to subject him to the same kind of treatment they received in Sanguinem when they were kids, so he resisted drinking Yuu's blood. Underneath the innate vampiric thirst for blood and his pained cries, Yuu heard nothing more than his childhood friend screaming at what he had become.

Yuu didn't hold it against Mika for attacking him. If anything, he was washed over by a calming sense of relief. It was his fault Mika was a vampire. It was Yuu who had left him to die to save himself when Mika saved him from the same fate that had befallen the Hyakuya orphans. It was Mika who had taught him how to live, Mika who had helped him understand the importance of family; Mika who, through that understanding, helped him gain the friends he had now... So maybe, just maybe – _finally_ – after all this time, he would be able to pay Mika back. For something that was Yuu's fault in the first place.

"Just drink," Yuu mumbled, silencing Mika's blood-curdling screams. He reached up and unbuttoned the clips on the neck of his uniform, exposing his bare neck. "If it... really hurts..."

Mika, eyes wide, taken by surprise, lifted his face from his hands immediately. His trembling, gloved fingers took hold of Yuu's shoulders immediately, and he pushed Yuichiro to the floor without holding back, pinning him to the ground with all his body weight. Yuu shivered at the sudden movements but he felt no physical pain. "Sorry... Mika..." he whispered, throat clogging with the emotion that rushed through him. Fingers in his hair, Yuu pulled Mika closer as he bared his fangs, ready to sink in to Yuu's warm skin.

"I'm sorry for leaving you alone."

If nothing else, Yuu could at least do this one thing for Mika...

* * *

 **~Shades of the past~**

* * *

"Pl-please... please stop... please stop...! Please stop...!"

Yuu lurched up in bed as he always did after a dream about his parents, trembling and dry-heaving – though he still felt as if he wasn't getting enough air. Yuu pulled his legs close to his chest and wrapped his arms wrapped around them, eyes fixed to a gash on the dank walls around the top of the bunkbed. Surrounded by the other children murmuring to themselves in their sleep, he rocked himself back and forth, reminding himself, _It was just a dream._ Yuu repeated, _Just a dream, just a dream, just a dream,_ until eventually he started whispering it to himself aloud, "just a dream, just a dream." Doing all he could to believe it.

Yuu bit his lip and shook his head as tears pooled into his eyes, rolling down his face, and he crumbled into his blankets, still holding himself, pressing his forehead into the wood beneath him. He couldn't do it. He couldn't get their voices out of his head, their kindness that had turned to anger in the blink of an eye. He'd gotten out of the apartment without a scratch, only for the one they left in his mind that he could no longer trust anyone – not even his "family." That he no longer had anyone to rely on, only himself.

Relying on himself wasn't good enough.

Could he do this forever? Could he continue to pretend that it didn't bother him enough for the others not to notice?

He didn't know.

"Yuu...?"

Yuu cursed as he hastily wiped the tears from his face and quieted his sobs. How did Mika always seem to wake up at the worst moments?!

"You okay...?" Mika asked sleepily. "I heard you mumbling..."

"Yeah," said Yuu, but it was almost inaudible from his earlier crying so Mika asked again.

"What?"

"I'm fine!" Yuu snapped, lifting his head to shoot Mika a glare before cowering back down in his blankets, turning the opposite direction.

Despite the darkness, Mika hadn't missed the shimmery reflection of tears sliding down Yuu's face. It woke Mika up enough to realize what was going on.

Yuu... was crying?

But Yuu never cried...

Reluctantly, Mika approached him, reaching toward him with one hand. "Yuu –"

"Don't touch me!" Yuu barked at him, slapping his hand away. Yuu shuddered at the contact, comparing it to his father's roughness, clawing at Yuu as he fled, knife in one hand, stabbing blindly at him.

Mika hesitated another moment, seeing how Yuu trembled under his blankets, before trying again. Softer than before, Mika rested a hand on Yuu's shoulder and turned him around slowly. Yuu's emerald eyes were dilated and he continued to shake even as Mika studied him with concern in his eyes. "Yuu, you remember I said it was okay if you needed help, right?"

Yuu might have been snapped back to his senses right then if not for how quietly Mika said it, how sincerely fearful he looked for Yuu's wellbeing. Yuu closed his eyes, willing the tears to say in. He always chided the others for crying over their pasts, and here he was doing the same thing. Mika didn't seem annoyed at all... Before he could stop himself, Yuu was saying something. "Mika, I..." His words became caught in his throat, and he never finished, sobs breaking through and not letting up. He felt warm arms around him. Yuu gasped and pushed at Mika who held on tightly, making it too much effort to get him off. Yuu kept struggling though, half-heartedly, until Mika whispered, "It's okay, Yuu... it was just a dream... you aren't there anymore... you're here... here with me..."

Mika had paused to say the last part, which had made the warmth sparked inside of Yuu all the more real. With Mika's warm arms around him and his soothing voice whispering... Yuu believed it, unlike when he tried to convince himself. Unlike when his parents had said they'd loved him. Yuu believed that he wasn't alone, that everything _was_ all right, even if they were trapped in a city full of vampires that saw them only as livestock. He had someone to trust after all.

It was from that day on that Yuu knew he could rely on Mika for anything. They stayed that way until a banging on their door awoke them in the morning.

He may have denied it, ignored it, struggled against it... but Yuu knew, even four years later, there was no one who could replace Mika in his heart.

* * *

 **~Loss of four years~**

* * *

"Mika!"

Yuu blinked back the tears that streamed down his face.

Back then, he'd resisted shedding tears in front of anyone. Now, he had no one to worry about crying in front of at all.

Yuu shook at the bloody images of the Hyakuya orphans as he sat up in bed. These dreams... they were far worse than the ones he used to have about his parents. Unlike his parents who didn't give him one iota of the attention, love, and care that he'd needed right up until they abandoned him, Mika and the others had been so kind to him. He hadn't done anything to deserve their kindness; only spew nonsense about destroying vampires – a dream that he knew was impossible from the moment he concocted the idea. And because of his own wanton disbelief, they, who had loved him and believed in him, – that he could actually defeat the vampires, – that they all could and escape out into a world free of them, had all been killed...

It was his fault.

They were dead because he'd made even Mika believe they could defeat the vampires and live somewhere peacefully. Yuu felt so stupid, so cursed and unlucky and undeserving, and yet he had no way to atone for his sin. He was only living away here, safe from the vampires, remembering that the rest of them were dead.

They'd deserved it so much more than him.

He had used Mika and the others for comfort against his own nightmares, yet he barely took the time to get to know them and help them with their own. He'd barely known anything about Mika's parents, unable to offer him any comfort in his few times of need, – like the time he'd come back from Ferid's completely exhausted, – when he'd been dying and bleeding on the ground in front of Yuu...

 _I'm horrible,_ Yuichiro's mind screamed. Not Asuramaru. No, these were his own thoughts, the ones that consumed him for over four years, safe and sound in every sense except in his own mind. _I let them all die... I let them take the fall for my own stupidity... I'm the worst..._

Every day he was reminded by the pistol under his pillow: _my fault, my fault, my fault._

Mika's ghost followed Yuu wherever he went no matter how much he tried to avoid it. When he skipped class and laid on the roof of the school, Mika's ghost urged Yuu to follow Mika and the others into the light.

He couldn't do it. Not until he had made amends.

Yuu felt Mika in his everyday acts of selflessness and conversations when he passed others in the hallway. He thought he heard light laughter in the background. Only to be reminded it was an illusion.

Mika was gone.

They were all gone.

He was all alone. And he'd remain that way until he died himself...

The reason he charged into battle without a second thought... why, everyday, he was only motivated by the hope he could avenge his family...

He hoped that he could sacrifice himself for as noble a cause as Mika had.

To save someone else, no matter the cost.

Though Yuichiro never realized – at least not until recently – the true weight and depth of the reason Mika sacrificed everything for him.

Family was a part of it, and yet... there was something more.

* * *

 **~Present~**

* * *

For four years, Yuu had thought Mika was dead – that it was his fault Mika had died along with everyone else. That was one death lifted from his conscience. Even when he'd gained new friends, he wouldn't let himself forget their sacrifice... their loss at his expense...

And then... Mika was alive. As a vampire, and Yuu would do anything in his power to pay him back for the love and affection he provided Yuu with in the past. He had to. He had no other choice; he could barely live with himself knowing he'd already left his family behind once; he wasn't going to do it again.

Yuu felt nothing but calmness as Mika drew closer, harsh breaths on Yuu's neck, ready to bite...

Mika stopped. He sat up with wide eyes, seeing what he'd done, fell backward and gritted his teeth. "What... did I do...? Ah... ha..."

Yuu was speaking to him but he had his own internal battle waging war in his mind. The last part of him that was still human told him not to give in to his vampiric bloodlust, that he couldn't turn his back on the only person he had left to protect in this world. "I don't want to... drink your blood..." he uttered, fighting every instinct in his mind that told him to pounce, to attack Yuu and obtain the nourishment he needed to survive.

"But Mika... it hurts when you don't drink blood, right? You don't have to explain anything!" said Yuu, grabbing Mika by the shoulders. Mika was brought back to his senses once again by Yuu's tone, shocked by the adamance in his voice and resolution of his expression. "You're on the verge of dying!" Yuu continued. "How?! How can I help your pain?! Is blood going to help you? Will it help you heal?! Then... if your blood isn't enough, drink mine!" He once again exposed his head for Mika to see. "Come on, drink my blood!"

Mika slouched where he was. "Don't be like that, Yuu... I won't... be able to resist..."

"Please tell me, Mika! Tell me how I can save you!"

Mika hid his face from view, sharply hissing, "Yuu!"

Hopelessly, Yuu clung to Mika. "What can I do...?" he wondered aloud. "To watch you die again when you're right in front of me..."

Mika was struck, hearing this, and decided it better to explain the situation rather than make Yuu suffer. "Yuu... I haven't... sucked human blood before..."

Those emerald eyes widened, then dulled. When they lit up again, his voice was normal, relaxed even. He knew exactly what he needed to do to get Mika to do what he wanted. They continued to bicker until Yuu cut his wrist, those eyes poring into Mika with such unshakable, unwavering determination that he couldn't look away. "I'll never forgive you if you die again," Yuu said, knowing there was no escape for Mika with those words.

"...You're a terrible person." Mika looked him dead in the eye as he said it, which told Yuu that he didn't mean it as seriously as one might think.

"Maybe," Yuu agreed. "But you let that terrible person into your family."

Mika lowered his head, chuckling to himself in spite of the pain jolting through his entire body with every breath, every moment without blood. "This sucks..." he uttered. "It's your fault that I'm going to become a monster."

"Ha! Are you stupid? Drinking a bit of blood won't turn you into a monster." Yuu grinned at him. "No matter what you become, we'll always be a family."

Mika's gaze lowered again, to the empty space between them. He squinted, doing everything in his power to force the tears to the back of his eyes but he couldn't...

After all this time, he would become the very thing he hated... But that wasn't why he was crying. "Yuu..."

"Huh?"

"It hurts..." he choked out. With that lucid confession, the sorrow became too much to bear and overflowed in huge waves of tears that streaked his face. "It hurts so much," he said again, a little louder. "I want to drink so badly..."

Yuu smiled, extending his hand. "Sure." He spoke gently. "Go ahead."

The arms that wrapped around Yuu's shoulders shocked him not from their forcefulness that knocked him backward, because of the same warmth he had experienced all those years ago in the vampire city, with no home, no family, no peace of mind to rely on. Nothing, except the warm, soothing arms of his best friend.

As Mika sobbed against his throat, the world around Yuu softened and faded away.

This was all he'd wanted.

Mika could finally trust him enough to reveal his true emotions.

Yuu wanted to cry joyfully himself.

The reason Mika had always put Yuu first, why he'd hidden away his sorrows and only allowed Yuu to see the calm hiding the storm underneath, whether Mika acknowledged it or not, was for love.

It had always been for love.

And Yuu would do everything in his power to love Mika in return.

" _Welcome home... Mika..."_

* * *

 **Okay, so let me tell you a story – another story aside from the one I've spent these 7 chapters developing.**

 **When I began watching Seraph of the End, after the first MikaYuu reunion I always thought it was obvious that Mika loved Yuu in a way that was more than any other relationship in the series. Yuu was Mika's everything, being trapped with the vampires for four years, while Yuu was getting new friends and moving forward. So I started this fic with that mindset. I thought only of Mika's side of the story and his isolation, never considering what Yuu must have been going through those four years as well.**

 **However, all that time Yuu only drove himself forward with the thought of avenging the family he watched die. Before Yuu knew Mika was alive, the only reason he had to live was to sacrifice himself for another's sake, as Mika had done for him. It haunted him even after he found friends.**

 **My original reason for writing** _ **Memento Mori**_ **was to convey this idea that Mika would do anything for Yuu, and as a result it gave him the secretive, determined personality he has both as a child and as a teenager/vampire. But as I wrote the story and read the canon chapters of the manga, I realized... it's quite the opposite, really, or mutual at the very least. Mika will do anything to save Yuu from the humans because Yuu is the only thing that's been keeping him going, but he got caught up in all that Seraph information of the war and he knew at least that Yuu was alive all that time. He had someone to live for. He had a goal, though morbid it may have been: live until he found Yuu. Yuu's only reason to live was to sacrifice himself for any other person's sake the first chance he got.**

 **Now Yuu has more reason to live, and will do anything to save Mika because Yuu wants to atone for what he's done, for what he wasn't able to do for Mika and the others as a child. He plans to make amends by paying Mika back for the love and protection Mika provided him at that time.**

 **I really thought that chapters 36 and 37 of the manga captured these ideas and showed their bond so well that I feel no need to write this story anymore in order to convince myself. So if you were wondering why the last few chapters haven't been as... long or developed, this is why. Canon nullified my entire reason for writing this story in the first place, and I can't say I'm sad about it.**

 **Rest assured I have many more MikaYuu fic ideas to write. I needed to put this fic to rest before I can get started on them all! I hope that you'll consider checking any of my others out on my profile~**

 **Once again, I want to thank all my wonderful readers for the support for this story, and I apologize if it's not the kind of ending you wanted. I hope it wasn't too abrupt. It's the ending I feel most comfortable giving, and hopefully that will be enough.**

 **Happy New Year!**

 **[End]**


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